A Dragon's Heart
by Lycanwolff
Summary: Riding was his life, his reason for existing, but when Lieutenant Daiki Aomine, second in command of the 3rd rider's division of the King's army is grounded, it all seems to be slipping from his grasp. That all changes when one day, he's given his last chance, but when he meets his new intended dragon, he quickly realizes that there's more behind those deep crimson eyes.
1. Chapter 1

**A Dragon's Heart**

A _KnB_ Fanfiction

 **Chapter 1**

 **Disclaimer: This is a yaoi heavy story. If that is not your thing, I won't feel bad if you decide not to read it. I got the idea for this from a prompt on Tumblr and the poster of the prompt has given me permission to create a story based around it. So here it is!**

He loved the sky. Loved the rush of the wind while he rode on the back of a magnificent beast that was noble and prideful. They were beasts of legend, held in high regard as not only partners, but trophies and even pets if they were small enough. Nothing was better than flying through that sky, on their back, but that was not something he was afforded, as he was grounded and had been for months.

Daiki Aomine, a dragon rider with a reputation, was not at all happy about being stuck on terra firma. He was a good rider, one of the best, and he belonged up there, but without a dragon, there was no chance of getting his feet off the dirt. He was stuck doing remedial jobs, day in and day out feeding, clean and caring for other people's dragons. He hated it, as he was a lieutenant in the rider division of the King's army, but he had no choice in the matter. His last incident hadn't sat well with his superiors. Any of them.

With a heavy sigh, Daiki finished polishing the leather of a rider's saddle before hoisting it up on his thick arms that flexed hard with muscle and put it back into its proper place; A cubbyhole along the wall where all the riders kept their saddles. It was such a warm day, and being stuck inside the equipment lauder was not his idea of a good afternoon. Sweat beaded down his caramel skinned forehead, clumping his midnight blue locks into dreads and his tunic was so drenched that it was sticking to his chiseled chest. His mouth was dry and his throat was hot, and with the last of the saddles polished, it was finally time for a break.

Using his already drenched shirt to dry his forehead, he stood from the wooden stool and headed out into the stables that were absolutely not any cooler. The air was grossly hot and the rays of sun that beamed in through the open windows was misted with moisture that was thick and stale. It made his eyes sting as he stepped outside, giving his dark blue eyes a moment to adjust before going to the trough filled with luke warm water. Even the shade was hot.

Without a care, Daiki dunked his head and let it run down his neck and back, soaking him further, but even warm, it was cooler than the air around him. He slurped a mouthful from his hand to wet his mouth before spitting it onto the dusty ground, but when he looked up, a squadron of riders flew overhead in a V formation.

"Assholes." Daiki grumbled to himself, drying his face on his shirt.

"We all know you are, so there's no need to remind us."

Daiki didn't even react to the voice he knew all too well, but he was used to it yelling at him for whatever reason, or another. He simply finished drying his face as the other man walked up, wearing a cloth gray tunic and pants that were tucked into knee high leather boots. His tunic was darkened with sweat and his chin length black hair was dreaded from even more. It only took Daiki a half second to know that he had just returned from a flight and he finished drying his face and looked over, his eyes met the narrowed ones behind their glasses.

"What do you want?" Daiki scoffed, letting his shirt drop back down.

"To find out if you've finished in the lauder." The man said, his extremely narrow eyes seemingly smirking at him.

"Just did. Let me guess... You wanna dump your saddle on me too, right?" Daiki said condescendingly and with a side long glare as he cupped more water over his head.

"Not at all. Just making sure you haven't passed out from heat sickness." The man said with a gentle smirk.

Daiki huffed, "Bullshit."

"You're certainly frostier than usual today." The man said, his voice lofty and grating against Daiki's nerves.

"Gee... What gave that away?" Daiki's brows furrowed.

The man sighed as his soft smirk vanished, "Look, Aomine... You know why we can't assign you another one. You've gone through three already and with the broodmother in her year remission, there simply isn't a dragon to spare."

Daiki gripped the edges of the trough, "That's crap, Imayoshi and you know. I'm not keeping my feet on the ground for a whole fucking year until the next brood comes around."

"You have no choice. You know damn well the King is pissed off with your stunts and it got your last dragon killed. He isn't willing to throw anymore lives at you just to keep you in the ranks." Imayoshi said, crossing his arms.

"So that means what? You're stripping me of my rank?" Daiki asked sternly as he stood up straight.

Imayoshi shook his head, "I didn't say that. All I said is His Majesty isn't willing to keep you in the ranks. Not that he's taking your rank."

"So what do you want then? Did you come by just to give me shit?" Daiki snarled.

"No... Though it is fun, but there actually is some news I have for you." Imayoshi said with a return of his gentle smirk.

Daiki's eyes narrowed, "Then dish it and leave me alone."

"So abrasive... The King has decided to give you one last chance, but you're going to have to work for it." Imayoshi said with a light in his voice that only made Daiki more irritated.

"If I have to clean one more dragon stall, I swear I'm just gonna off myself." Daiki growled, pursing his lips together.

"That won't be necessary, Aomine. Since you're irritating, brash and hotheaded, why not pair you with an irritating, brash and hotheaded dragon." Imayoshi said, his smirk growing across his face as his voice nearly sang with his hidden insults.

"Wait a second... You just said there weren't any to spare." Daiki said, arcing a brow as he dried his hands on his tunic.

"Any _broodlings_ to spare. However, there is one that I think will compliment your... personality nicely." Imayoshi said, his narrowed eyes opening just enough to give Daiki a shiver down his spine.

"It's not a broodling? How in all the fucks are you expecting me to bond with an adult?" Daiki snapped at his commanding officer.

"He's not an adult. He's an adolescent."

Daiki threw his hands up, "Because that makes it all better! Why the hell isn't this one bonded then?"

"Because he's exactly like you."

"Fuck off." Daiki crossed his arms.

"Now now now... Don't be so vulgar." Imayoshi said without even a flinch, or trip in his demeanor.

"So what's the deal? Why is he not bonded?" Daiki asked, drawing a deep breath to huff it out in a sigh.

"Besides his demeanor, he's unapproachable. No one can get close enough and if someone manages to, they usually end up extra crispy with a side of fire roasted potatoes." Imayoshi said, clasping his hands behind his back as he took a step up to the trough.

"Oh good... That's great motivation." Daiki rolled his eyes.

"He's killed three guards and two stable hands, and that's just to name the Humans." Imayoshi said as he cupped handfuls of water over his soaked hair.

"You're batting a thousand, Imayoshi. Keep digging." Daiki scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"He's dropped a dragon himself."

"Wonderful... And you keep this prick in the stables?" Daiki asked, arcing a brow once more.

"Oh, heavens above... No no no. Not at all. This one is kept in the Hold." Imayoshi said before splashing the water into his face.

"Wonderful! That's awesome... Really! That's fantastic to hear! You're offering me a dragon you keep in the Hold who's got six bodies on his head! It's good to know all my years of service have garnished such an offering!" Daiki boomed, throwing his hands up in defeat before running them back over his hair.

"That's precisely why the King is giving you both one last chance." Imayoshi said with all his amusement gone from his voice.

Daiki's words caught in his throat as he regarded his commanding officer, eyes narrowed and lips parted with confusion. He looked around to see if anyone was laughing, that maybe this was a joke, but with only he and Imayoshi standing near the trough, he started to think that the man was actually serious. That scared him more than anything every could.

"What happens if this doesn't work?" Daiki asked, releasing a long sigh before planting his hands on his hips.

"I would've thought that was obvious. If you can't tame this one's wild demeanor, you'll be grounded for good and the dragon will be put to death." Imayoshi said with his smirk in returning.

Having been a dragon rider for years, Daiki could read people just like he could read a dragon. Imayoshi's posture was firm, confident and his expression was neutral much like it always was. There was no reaction to his words, leaving him with the only choice, but to accept them as truth.

With a soft exhale, he crossed his arms and squared his shoulders.

"When do I start?" Daiki asked lowly as he gripped both biceps and rolled out his neck.

"Immediately. The Hold is expecting you, but I'll give you this one warning; Don't turn your back. I'll pray that I see you tomorrow." Imayoshi said just as he turned and left with a half-assed wave back over his shoulder.

Daiki was dumbfounded; Completely and utterly without words. He wanted to be happy that he was being given one last chance, but at the same time, the idea that it was with a homicidal and sadistic dragon wasn't exactly sitting well in his gut. In his years, he had trained dragons, broken dragons and even birthed a couple from a few broods ago, but never had he had to face off with one that would rather turn him to ash just for being there.

With a sigh, Daiki headed down the stone street, stepping around several horses and crowds on the way to his barracks. As a rider, and single with no children, he was assigned a bunk in the rider barracks. It was free housing and the meals were guaranteed that he didn't have to struggle to make himself, which meant that he got to pocket all of his earnings if he didn't end up blowing it all at the tavern, or on women.

He pushed open the door to the barracks and groaned at the feel of the hot air. The stone of the walls did nothing to help keep the place cool, as they had gotten heated from most of the day's sun and were baking the inside. It was an oven, which meant getting cleaned up wasn't really an option.

He sat down on his bunk and pulled his trunk out from underneath it, rifling through his few belongings for a clean tunic. He pulled a blue one out and shed his tattered, sweat caked shirt and tossed it into the hamper at the foot of his bed before pulling the new one on and rolling up its sleeves to his elbows. He let the laced neckline hang open to help him stay cool, but before leaving, he grabbed a heavy cloak from the hook on the bed's post, draped it over his shoulders and headed for the stables.

As the Hold was a ways away, getting a horse was the only option he had to get there before nightfall. He was given a plain brown steed, a gelding whom was more lazy than useful, but he was obedient and large enough to handle Daiki's 6'3 form. He slipped a foot into the stirrup and hoisted himself up into the saddle, taking a second to settle himself before clicking his tongue and coaxing the horse forward. The heavy hoof falls were in perfect rhythm as he walked down the streets, winding his way towards the large portcullis that was opened high and guarded. He walked over the bridge that spanned the water fill mote, but it wasn't until the horse's hooves hit dirt that he slapped the horse's haunch with an open palm.

With a hard jolt, the horse broke out into a gallop, pounding down the dirt road that would eventually take him to the Hold; A place where secrets were kept and souls disappeared. The rush of the wind through his hair helped to cool him down, as it billowed down his tunic to cool his caramel skin. The sun was still hot, but with his horse at a full stride, he got a reprieve from the heat.

The ride to the Hold took some time, long enough for the sun to each its evening horizon and paint the sky deep oranges, yellows and reds. The edges of blue danced over the distant mountains on the other side of the sky and he knew that he wouldn't return before dark.

The fading light made the Hold look ominous, casting it in shadow as the marker fires burned in their bowls. The high stone walls were walked by guards armed, all gripping the leashes of their dogs and armed with swords and arrows. The closed gate was never out of someone's line of sight, never opened unless someone had business to attend to within its depths. The Hold was underground, a dark place where criminals and cast-outs alike were thrown to be forgotten, but there was a second part that was larger and above ground. That was where they kept things larger than Human.

Before reaching the gate, he steered the horse around the wall to the back where the large, stone dungeon was dug into a the hill to provide more security for what lurked inside. The entrance was closed and guarded and the fires had already been lit to light his way.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" Called a guard as Daiki stopped the horse and slid off the saddle.

"Lieutenant Daiki Aomine; Second in command of the 3rd rider division under King Akashi." Daiki said, his voice carrying to meet their ears as he grasped the reins and started towards them with the horse content just to follow.

"Ah... We were informed you would be coming... Not real sure you'll be leaving though." The other guard chuckled.

"Shut it. Take my horse to the stable and give him food and water." Daiki ordered sharply.

The guard immediately snapped to attention before taking the reins, leaving the other guard to open the heavy wooden door that was reinforced with iron bolts and bands. The air was much cooler and he was no longer sweating, settling his mood and as he stepped through the door, he stared down a long, darkened and fire lit corridor that was lined with more heavy wooden doors with small barred windows.

"Last one on the left!" The guard whom had opened the heavy door called down to him.

"How's he been today?" Daiki asked, looking back over his shoulder as he settled his cloak over him.

"Grouchy... Like always. Don't go inside, or you ain't coming out." The guard said.

Daiki just huffed out through his nose before he started to walk again, drawing in deep, settling breaths to calm his nerves the deeper into the Hold he went. He started to hear the heavy planting of large claws, the weight of it enough to tell him that the beast they belonged to was far bigger than a meager broodling. He heard the crunch of hide dragging over dirt and the rustling of leathery wings shuffling to find comfort. There was no question in his mind that this dragon was a good size, which meant, he'd have to be extra vigilant.

"Figures he'd leave that part out." Daiki grumbled to himself as he stopped at the heavy and bolted wooden door.

He peered through the small window, but stayed a step back, trying to see what was inside, but he only saw blackness. He knew something was in there, as his ears could hear the deep guttural popping of a growl and more shuffling. He waited and watched, his eyes only blinking when needed so he didn't miss any glimpse of the beast inside. He knew better than to approach a dragon head on, as he had learned that in his first year. The burn scar to his leg served as a reminder to take things slow and with the knowledge that this beast was aggressive and unpredictable, he wasn't about to be foolish.

After some time of watching, waiting, he drew in a short breath and reached for a torch that was cradled in its bracket against a support beam carved from a single tree's trunk. He lifted it with ease and held it firm as he reached out and wrapped his long fingers around the heavy metal handle of the bolt latching the door closed. He pulled it open, but hearing the heavy shuffle of hide and a firm growl, he froze and watched.

The darkness was unbroken, keeping the beast from his eyes, but his ears were alight with the low, thundering growl that popped and crackled like the thunk one hears when knocking on a wine cask. It was so deep and so powerful that his heart actually skipped a beat; A sensation he hadn't felt since he first enlisted in the rider's corps. His interest was peaked and after several moments, he pulled the door open slowly, producing a long wooden creak that seamed to echo.

Stepping inside, Daiki stared into the darkness as he shut the door and held the torch up. Its small flame was only enough to cast back some of the shadow, but his eyes couldn't see anything, but the blackness. His eyes were useless, but his ears, those were sharp enough to listen and it was the only thing he had to prepare for what could possibly come.

"I hear you, Buddy... Why are you hiding?" Daiki said, his voice even as he watched and stayed perfectly still.

All his ears heard was the long huff of air, instantly smelling the tinge of smoke that put Daiki on high alert. He dared not move in case he provoked the beast, but the torch's lack of flame wasn't making it easy. He needed to see with his own eyes in order to read the beast, to see its posture, its positioning in case he needed to make a fast exit. He needed his eyes to work so he could return the gaze he knew was set on him.

"I won't hurt you... I just wanna see you. That's all. I won't touch you." He said calmly.

There was another huff of air and some more rustling, more low growling, but still the shadow was dark. Daiki kept his breathing even and calm as he slowly slid his foot forward, stepping away from the door, only to freeze when the growl deepened and another strong huff blew dust up from the floor.

"Easy, Buddy... Easy... Calm down, Big Guy." Daiki said, slowly raising his hand up in defense.

The growling continued, laced with rustling and shifting, but Daiki didn't back down. He stood his ground as he kept watching and waiting, forcing his breaths to stay even, and after several minutes and the growling died down, he dared another step.

A snap of jaws froze him in his place, immediately followed by the deep guttural growl and more snorts of heated breath. The dragon's gut burned with fire, he knew this all too well and that subtle heat from the dragon's huffs told him that the beast was getting closer to the edge.

"Alright... Alright... I'll stay put. You win." Daiki said, keeping his hand up as he extended the torch just a bit more.

It was that small bit that pushed back the shadows just enough to shimmer off hard crimson hide that was tinged with darkened edges of rusty red. It was just enough to show the beast's outline, the long arc of its strong tail as it curled around its main body, the massive wings that were tucked in tight and the long, thick neck was low and guarded. His eyes followed the outline of the neck to reach the dragon's head, crowned with two long horns that gently arced backwards, but the most noticeable thing was the glimmer of an eye that shone deep red and it was watching him.

"There you are... Hey there, Big Guy. Don't be afraid." Daiki said quietly as he ultra slowly began to kneel.

The dragon snorted as he raised his head, his nostrils flaring with the deep huff. His large eye blinked once as the dragon watched, his giant teeth that were stained with long forgotten blood bared and ready to rend at a moments notice.

"Ssh-... I'll sit here all night if I have to." Daiki said, keeping eye contact with the beast and his expression neutral.

Another long huff blew a mist of smoke into the air, stinging Daiki's eyes, but he refused to look away from the dragon. The moment he did could spell death and he wasn't about to let an animal best him.

That was how they sat for hours, just watching each other, studying each other. Not once did Daiki look away from the dragon as he studied his posture, the look in his crimson eye. He never let the huffs of smoke cause his stare to falter and for hours, he didn't say a word. He just sat, watched and waited.

Feeling his tiredness creeping up on him, Daiki knew it was time to step from the cell, as it had been several successful hours where he hadn't died. He slowly planted his hand on the dirt and started to rise to his feet, stopping when the dragon shifted and lifted his head with a snort. He waited and watched, stayed perfectly calm as he started to rise once more and once on his feet, he continued to watch as he backed away. He knew never to expose his back.

"I'll see you later, Buddy... Alright?... Just take it easy and get some rest. Don't do anything crazy." Daiki said, reaching behind him and feeling around for the metal handle of the door.

The dragon growled and stared, his gaze never fading as Daiki's hand found the metal he was looking for. He quietly began to push, producing that long wooden groan, but he stopped again when the dragon shifted and planted a clawed paw down on the dirt whose tips dug without a problem. He knew he had overstayed his welcome and needed to leave as quietly and as quickly as possible. The dragon was agitated as it was and each second he stayed in there with the beast, he came closer and closer to being fried.

The door was only open enough for him to slip through, but no sooner had he sidestepped, the dragon opened his mouth, revealing that his throat was glowing that telltale orange of a building fire deep in his belly. Daiki had no time, not a second to waste as he bolted out and slammed it just as the dragon unleashed his breath. The flames flew from his jaws, billowing and roaring as the power ripped the door from its hinges and blasted it back. Daiki managed just to duck out of the way just in time, covering himself with his cloak as he waited for the flames to subside and once they did, his ears were split with the thunderous boom of a dragon's roar.

The sound was so vicious, so carnal that it vibrated in his chest where it drifted down his bones and into the floor. It was the kind of roar that only the most tremendous of dragons could make, a far cry from the usual beasts his division rode. They were small, agile, yet capable animals whom obeyed orders with the hopes of earning a treat, but this dragon, this one was different. He was mindful, seemed to understand, but without the ability to see his eyes without shadow, Daiki could only speculate.

Once the roar tapered off, Daiki uncovered himself, panting from the rush of near getting barbecued. He looked back at the door that had been charred to a crisp, laying shattered and splintered on the stone floor and smoking like coals. It was a close call and one that Daiki was going to have to pick a bone with.

Huffing with his rising temper, Daiki tossed the torch aside and marched back down the corridor, bursting through the door so hard that the guards nearly feel over from having been hit with it.

"Holy shit!... Figured you'd died. We were just gonna clean up what was left in the morning." A guard snickered to his buddy.

"Get the door repaired and don't fuck with him. If he growls, leave him alone. Do you hear me?" Daiki snapped, setting his angry eyes on the two men with their dogs.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" They both yelped.

Without a word, Daiki retrieved his horse from the nearby stables and hightailed it back towards the kingdom. It was well into the warm night as the horse galloped as fast as it could, clopping hard as Daiki steered it down the road. The stars glimmered overhead and the moon was high, but it was lost as Daiki's rage built with every passing minute. He was furious, angered beyond reasoning and there was only one man in his line of sights.

Shoichi Imayoshi.

Not even bothering to return the horse to the stables, Daiki rode it all the way up the stone road to the officers tower. He walked right passed the guards whom had tried to stop him without a single care and didn't stop until he reached the door he knew all too well and threw it open without bother to knock.

"You're an asshole! You left a whole shit ton of stuff out-"

Daiki's voice caught hard in his throat as he stopped in the doorway, watching with an arced brow at his commanding officer's state of dress. He was topless with his pants down to just under his ass as he drilled a servant girl, whom was far too much enjoying the attention if her moans and mulls where anything to go by. They had silenced the moment he had burst through the door however and she was desperately trying to cover herself up.

With a groan, Imayoshi hung his head and leaned forward on his hands resting on his table.

"Could you give me a minute?" He growled as he glanced back over his shoulder.

Daiki crossed his arms and crookedly smirked, "You're more than welcome to continue, but know that I'm not going anywhere."

Imayoshi groaned as he stood up straight, releasing the girl whom frantically covered herself and ran like her life depended on it. He took a moment with his back to Daiki to situate self, but when he turned around, Daiki couldn't help, but laugh at the very dissatisfied and irritated look on his face.

"I should have your head for interrupting me." Imayoshi said, grimacing a bit as he adjust his still loose pants.

"You'd have to catch me first and I highly doubt you could in your current condition." Daiki smirked.

"Blow me, Aomine." Imayoshi scoffed, shaking his head as he walked around the table to sit in his chair.

"Naw... Might make that maid girl jealous." Daiki said as he turned to shut the door.

"Actually, you might have saved me from a lot of heartache. She's an idiot and couldn't boil water without guidance. She has a tendency to get attached very quickly." Imayoshi sighed as he sat and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Then why deflower the girl?" Daiki asked, taking the seat across from the man.

"There isn't any deflowering going on. She's a good fuck. That's it. I'm certainly not the first to experience her dried out abyss." Imayoshi said with a gruff tone in his voice as he slouched in his chair to ease his discomfort in his pants.

Daiki arced a brow, "And you got after me for being vulgar."

"What is it you want? I see you survived visiting that beast." Imayoshi said, eager to get a move on so he could finish himself off and not be frustrated for the whole night.

"You left out a few important details about that dragon." Daiki said, his expression flattening out into completely neutrality.

"Did I?"

"Don't play me, Imayoshi... That dragon isn't one of ours. He's not even from this region." Daiki said firmly.

"I knew I couldn't hide anything from you." Imayoshi smirked.

"Where did he come from?" Daiki asked.

"The Northern Regions... We caught him last summer." Imayoshi said as he studied his nails.

"He's been locked up in the Hold for a whole year?" Daiki growled with furrowing brows.

"It's not like we could have let him out. He'd fly off and wreck havoc on someone, most likely us." Imayoshi said with a half shrug.

"No wonder he's irritable! You can't lock up a wild dragon like that and expect him to just accept it!" Daiki yelled angrily.

"We had no choice, Aomine. He's a danger if allowed to roam free." Imayoshi said plainly and with no reaction to Daiki's rising voice.

"Then why keep him alive?" Daiki asked.

"His Majesty took an interest. We got word last summer that there was a wild dragon terrorizing a farm in the Northern Regions and we tried for weeks to resolve the problem, but that dragon either evaded us entirely, or disarmed our traps. He's crafty, so His Highness ordered us to capture him alive. We did and he's been in the Hold ever since." Imayoshi explained.

"By the gods... Does he even still remember what daylight looks like?" Daiki asked sharply.

"I doubt it, but what better way to test your salt than by seeing if you can tame a wild dragon? Intriguing, don't you think?" Imayoshi smirked.

"You want proof?... Fine... I just sat for hours watching him; _Just_ watching him. Most dragons would've given up and gone to sleep, or done something else. They would've lost interest, but this guy... this guy watched back. We stared at each other the entire time, Imayoshi." Daiki said with another odd flutter in his chest from the sensation of being watched.

"Progress already. I'm impressed." Imayoshi said simply.

"That dragon's different... I know he is. Dragons don't watch people like that and his eyes... I can't quite place it yet, but his eyes were different somehow." Daiki said, slowly shaking his head as he tried to think.

"I'd ask how, but I'm not really interested at the moment." Imayoshi said, pursing his lips together as he rapped a fingertip on the table in rapid succession.

Daiki's eyes narrowed, "You know, most people do that in a bed, Captain." He deadpanned.

"Eh... Couldn't wait. Got in the mood, so I called her up here. Not like it took much convincing on my part. She'd agree to stepping into a dragon's flame if I promised to give her a rose afterwards." Imayoshi shrugged.

"You're such a dirtbag." Daiki rumbled, planting an elbow on the armrest to rub his temples.

"What?... Little ol' me? No... I don't believe you." Imayoshi said with a feigned roll of his eyes and a hurt expression.

"Because that disproves my theory." Daiki scoffed under his breath, but just loud enough for the man across from him to hear.

"Oh, relax, Aomine. I think you've earned a little reprieve from my usual demeanor considering you've returned from that dragon with all your limbs... and eyebrows." Imayoshi said in all seriousness.

"Barely... I was leaving and he blew the door off." Daiki said.

"Well, cop it up to instinct that you knew when you had overstayed your welcome." Imayoshi said with a half shrug.

"Maybe-" he sighed, "I wanna go back every night this week. I think the more he sees me, the less aggressive he'll get." Daiki said, running a hand back over his hair.

"By all means. I'll assume if you haven't returned by morning, then you're charcoal." Imayoshi said.

"There's still a chance I might not be." Daiki said with a quick tilt of his head.

"True, but ask yourself this; How much of a chance?"

"Enough of one. I'll show you this dragon's different." Daiki said, planting his hands on the armrests and pushing himself up to his feet.

"I welcome it... Now off you go, unless you wanna help me with my little problem." Imayoshi said as a hand flopped down into his lap.

Daiki cracked a crooked smirk, "I'll pass. Call your wench back if you want that."

"D'aw... But you give better head." Imayoshi said, returning the smirk.

Daiki sighed, "'Preciate it, but I've got too much on my mind." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'll grant you whatever you want to see this dragon business through." Imayoshi sang.

Daiki's throat rumbled low as he glared, "She's that bad?"

"Atrocious... Positively awful." Imayoshi grunted with his arm noticeably moving in his lap.

"Wow," Daiki blew out, "Alright... But I'm holding you to it." He pointed at the man.

"Done."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Author's Note: In case I have some new readers here, I tend to take weekends off from posting, as this story is entirely written already. But, with it being Christmas and the weekend, I wish you all a wonderful holiday and lots of joy. :)**

It had been a long week full of strenuous labor during the absurdly hot days and sitting in a dark cell in the Hold at night, waiting and watching a creature that looked back. For a solid week, he had just sat there, watching the way the dragon's deep crimson eyes would follow each and every move he made, how every time he made to leave, the dragon would threaten to blow its flame just to get him to move faster. He had yet to find an answer as to why he felt that this dragon was different, but that hadn't deterred him from trying to figure it out.

With it being the seventh consecutive night of riding to the Hold, Daiki had taken the day off from working in the dragon stables to catch up on some sleep. It had been tough to rest inside the barracks, as it was so hot that he simply laid atop his blankets, but in the end, his exhaustion had won and taken him under for several hours. It helped a great deal to clear the fog from his mind, and as he rode his horse through the darkening skies and cooling air, he was steeling his nerves in preparation for another night of just sitting and watching.

As he approached the Hold, he slowed the horse to a halt and slid off the saddle just like he had done every night, grasping the reins and walking the steed to the guard while he headed inside. The door to the cell had been replaced four other times during the long week, but every time, the dragon's flames missed him because he knew when to hightail it out of there. He readjust his cloak so that it sit square on his shoulders as he walked down the long, darkened corridor, knowing without having to see which door was his target. He grabbed one of the larger torches as he walked so that he could see better and once he reached the door, he stopped and looked inside.

The cell was quiet, too quiet, but every so often, his ears could hear the soft exhales of the beast inside. However, they seemed off, weak almost, and each time his ears picked up the sound, his stomach started to roll with rising worry.

Furrowing his brows, Daiki turned and headed back down the corridor with the intention of speaking with the remaining guard. He held the torch firm as he opened the door and poked his head out into the night air and didn't even flinch when the guard dog started to growl.

"Hey... What's up with Buddy?" Daiki asked, his brows still furrowed and his voice even.

"Oh... Um, he's been off lately. He hasn't eaten since the first night you were here." The guard answered, rubbing the back of his neck with his available hand.

"What? Why didn't you tell me he isn't eating?" Daiki snapped with instant anger.

"I'm sorry, Sir! I didn't know it was that important! Most dragons don't eat everyday, so I thought it was nothing to worry about!" The guard quickly yammered out.

"You idiot! Bring me a dozen chickens, or so help me, I'll scalp you!" Daiki roared through gritted teeth and eyes so angry that the guard took off without even bothering to find someone to cover the door.

However, Daiki stayed put as he waited, angrily sneering down the corridor at the last door on the left. He hoped the dragon would be alright, in fact, he prayed, as throughout the week he had started to feel less and less on edge when sitting and watching the beast. The dragon's eyes had just begun to relax, but there was still a wild edge to them, almost like a tiger's as they stalked their prey. Even after a year as a caged animal, there was still life in those crimson eyes, had yet to die with the passing of time and that alone was something to add to the growing list that this dragon was different.

The guard finally returned with a woven basket filled with the carcasses of readied chickens, all beheaded and removed of their feathers. He held the torch up to light the corridor and held the door open for the guard as both walked down its length. The closer they came, the more Daiki's ears could hear the labored breathing of the dragon and as they stopped, the guard set the basket down and headed back to his post without so much as a word, or glance at the lieutenant.

Stuck holding a torch, it wasn't easy keeping the door open to drag the basket inside, but making sure to take slow steps and remembering not to rush, he got himself, the torch and the basket inside without making a fool out of himself. He shut the door softly and held the torch up, and with its larger flame he instantly saw the soft metallic glow of the crimson hide, except that this time, there was a dull hue to it.

The dragon was curled into a corner, much like always, and his wings were hanging limp on either side with his tail wrapped around him for something to rest his large head on. His eyes were half lidded and distant, hazy in his apparent delirium as he had trouble focusing on Daiki. The dragon's throat thundered with a deep groan, the type of noise that was not at all threatening, but rather, tired and weak. His health was poor and Daiki knew it.

"Hey, Big Guy... What's wrong, Buddy?" Daiki asked softly as he set the torch into the empty bracket on the wall to dimly light the cell.

The dragon moaned once more as he blinked slow and lazy, his crimson eyes rolling a bit before somewhat focusing in on the Human whom had knelt beside the basket of chickens. He exhaled with a flare in his nostrils as a small amount of smoke drift out, but it wasn't enough for Daiki to be concerned. He was more worried about getting the dragon to eat.

"I heard you haven't been eating. You've gotta eat, Buddy. How else are you gonna keep your strength up?" Daiki asked as if he was expecting an answer, pulling a chicken from the basket and held it up for the dragon to see.

Again, the dragon softly exhaled and looked on, watching with his hazy eyes bouncing between the chicken and Daiki.

"There we go... Here. It's all yours, Buddy. No need to do anything for it." Daiki said.

With a flick of his arm, Daiki flung the chicken towards the dragon, where it landed right in front of his crossed front legs that rested over the end of his tail. The dragon lifted his head and tilted it as he looked at the chicken, eyeballing it as if it would get up and run away. He just stared at it for a moment before looking back at Daiki with a snort.

"It's alright, Buddy. It's just a chicken." Daiki said quietly.

The dragon just shifted his gaze back to the chicken before laying his head back down with another long exhale of heated air, having not even bothered to pay more attention to the offering.

Daiki lightly exhaled as he spent a few minutes to watch the dragon, how his eyes were glassy and was refusing to look at him for longer than a meager second. The cell was quiet as the firelight flickered, dancing its orange light over the cell and with the settled aura to the dragon, and the fact that he was clearly not himself, it afforded Daiki a chance to truly examine the large and solid door that the dragon was leaning up against.

His lips parted as his dark blue eyes set on the worn condition of the wood, how it had long rub marks stretching from one side to another and clawed gouges next to the seam that separated the doors. The dragon had paid an infallible amount of attention to the door, only for it to go no where since it was locked from the outside. Daiki knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the dragon had tried and failed to get free.

"Buddy-" he exhaled, "You've been trying to get out huh." Daiki said, shifting his eyes back to the dragon whose eyes were now watching him and still half lidded and distant.

The dragon just exhaled, but Daiki's eyes, despite the dark swore he had seen his large head softly nod.

"What's going on with you, Buddy? Aren't you hungry?" Daiki asked, lifting another chicken from the basket.

Again, the dragon exhaled and yet again, Daiki's eyes swore he had seen a nod.

His brows furrowing, Daiki slowly reached down to his ankle and unsheathed a small knife, but once it came free and its blade glinted from the fire's light, the dragon's eyes snapped open and he growled as he lifted his head, bearing huge teeth that were all pointed and deadly.

"Whoa!... It's ok, Buddy... It's alright. I'm just gonna carve a piece off the chicken. That's all." Daiki said, setting the knife down on the dirt to show he was meaning no ill intent.

When Daiki pulled his hand away, the dragon's growling ebbed away, but when he reached to pick up the knife once more, the growling returned.

"Alright... I won't pick it up. It's gonna make cooking this thing a bit tricky though." Daiki said, huffing as he examined the whole chicken in his hand.

With a grunt that drew Daiki's attention, the dragon shifted and thunked a long claw down onto the chicken that laid discarded next to him, spearing it through before lifting it to his mouth. His large jaws opened, but instead of consuming the whole thing, like a normal dragon would have, a large front tooth sunk down through the meat and tore off the breast.

Daiki was dumbfounded entirely when the dragon spit the severed breast meat from his mouth, tossing it at his feet where it lay next to the knife. The only thing he could manage to do was stare at it before looking up to meet the dragon's gaze and some distance seemed to return to his crimson eyes as he used a claw from his other front paw to remove the chicken that was very much stuck on his claw.

"Y-You want me to cook this?" Daiki asked, pointing a long finger at the breast laying at his feet.

This time, he wasn't hallucinating, he was really seeing this, but the dragon's large head nodded. It actually, genuinely nodded. Not only was this dragon different, this dragon understood him and the thing that had been hiding behind those deep crimson eyes had been intelligence.

He was still having trouble believing what he was seeing, but he needed to confirm that it wasn't just his lack of sleep that was contributing to it. He needed more to confirm his quickly rising suspicions, so with a deep breath, he continued as if he just accepted it as truth.

"Y-You like cooked meat?" Daiki asked, his mouth agape in disbelief.

Again, he was sure of it. The dragon nodded.

"If that's the case, how long has it been since you've eaten?" Daiki asked with a thick gulp.

Daiki wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't what the dragon did. He raised a long claw from his right hand and drove the very tip into the dirt where he started to sweep it through, leaving behind actual and legible writing.

 _A long time_

"Oh my gods-... You're not a wyvren at all... Y-You're intelligent!" Daiki yelped with a gasp, his eyes bouncing from the written words to meet the dragon's gaze.

The dragon nodded.

"Why haven't you told anyone? They certainly would have set you free!" Daiki said, his heart hammering and his breath having trouble staying in his lungs.

The dragon lowered his head and huffed a long blow of air from his lips, smoothing out where he had written before planting his claw and writing a new message.

 _Long story_

Daiki's brows furrowed, "Long story?... Can you talk?"

This time, the dragon shook his head.

Daiki gripped the back of his neck as he blew out a long blow of air, not even sure how to process what was happening. The dragons he was used to were nothing more than livestock, they were animals, but that was clearly not the case with this dragon. He had only ever heard stories, but even those were only meant for children at bedtime. No one had seen, or heard of an intelligent dragon in ages, as they were believed extinct, but how he was sitting in a darkened cell with one and he was the only one who knew.

"Can I pick up the knife so I can cook it for you?" Daiki asked, his eyes softened and calm.

The dragon nodded.

Drawing a breath, Daiki picked up the knife, this time without a growl, and speared the chicken breast before standing and going to the torch in its bracket. He lifted it free and held it below the meat, slowly turning it and charring the skin until it was crisped and the meat was cooked. The cell actually smelt pretty good as Daiki took the meat away from the flames and turned his gaze to the awaiting dragon.

"Can I walk up?" Daiki asked, not wanting to just assume, or risk his own skin as the dragon's next meal.

The dragon nodded.

With a nod of his own, Daiki replaced the torch in the bracket to free up a hand before he grabbed the basket's handle and dragging it closer, still watching the dragon, but somehow feeling at ease as he drew close. The dragon was large, but not so huge as to dwarf him into an ant. He was clearly strong, with wide wings and thick muscle, but in all honesty, the dragon was no larger than four horses placed end to end.

Blowing out the breath he had been holding, Daiki quickly touched the cooked chicken to check if it had cooled somewhat before pulling it off the knife's blade and offering it with an opened hand.

"Open up, Big Guy." Daiki said.

The dragon opened his huge maw, presenting an array of threatening teeth, but there was no growl, or orange glow of an incoming inferno. Daiki tossed the chicken breast inside where the dragon closed his mouth and noticeably swallowed.

"Want me to keep going? Daiki asked.

At the dragon's nod, Daiki speared what remained of the severed chicken and went back for the torch to begin cooking, but it was a pain in the ass having to hold the torch and somehow rotate the meat with one hand. He didn't wish to fumble and drop the meat, as he didn't wish to risk angering the dragon he had come to call Buddy. With no other name, it was all he had, but now, with the realization that the dragon was, in fact, intelligent, it didn't feel like it quite fit.

"So um... I know you might not wanna hold a conversation, but can I ask something?" Daiki asked after awhile, pulling the finished chicken from the flames and tossing them into the dragon's awaiting mouth.

The dragon crunched down once, twice, three times, but on the fourth, he swallowed before nodding.

"I've been calling you Buddy and Big Guy, but that's not your name, is it." Daiki said, somewhat knowing the answer already now that he said his words out loud.

The dragon shook his head as Daiki picked up a new chicken and began cooking it.

"What is it?" Daiki asked.

The dragon exhaled as he raised a claw and wrote into the dirt.

 _Taiga_

"Taiga?... Didn't think I'd get this far honestly. I'm Daiki... Daiki Aomine." He said, attempting to turn the chicken and nearly dropping it in the process.

The dragon lightly huffed and grunted before slamming a claw into the dirt, instantly digging a hole large enough to swallow Daiki's foot whole. Daiki's brows furrowed as the dragon pointed the claw at the torch before aiming it back at the hole and it was in that instant, that he realized what the dragon was telling him.

"Thanks, Taiga." Daiki said as he slipped the torch into the hole where it stood up straight and firm.

With both hands free, it was much easier to cook and in no time, the second chicken was ready. He pulled it off the knife and without even having to say anything, the dragon's mouth was open.

"Bottoms up." Daiki said with a crooked smirk.

He tossed the chicken into the dragon's mouth and while the dragon ate, he picked up another and began to cook it. He was watching the meat sizzle, only hearing the dragon shift around, exhale and grunt, and he wasn't paying the creature much mind until the dragon grunted and huffed on him, blowing a short breath that smelt like sulfur that splayed over the side of his face.

"Hey!... Huh?" Daiki lightly reeled as he saw the dragon point at the dirt.

 _Why visit me_

Daiki opened his mouth to answer, but he found his mind blank. He was quickly realizing that he was still reeling from his discovery, still disbelieving and thinking that this was some weird dream from a wild night at the tavern. It was a fantastical discovery, to find a dragon that wasn't just some big dumb animal, but rather had the mind of a man and somehow, no one else knew, or even suspected it. He never thought something like this would happen, in fact, would have money on it, but that didn't change the fact that he was having a conversation with a dragon.

"You can talk, can't you." Daiki said, meeting Taiga's gaze.

With a soft exhale, Taiga nodded.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. No one, but me, knows what you are." Daiki said quietly as he rotated the meat over the flames.

Taiga drew in a huge breath that he near immediately blew out through his flared nostrils, but with a grunt, all he did was sweep away the writing to scrawl another message.

 _My voice carries_

Daiki nodded, "As if mine doesn't. So far, they probably think I'm talking to myself.

 _That's fine_

"Oi!-"

The moment Taiga bared his teeth and growled, Daiki shut up as Taiga cleared the dirt and scrawled another message.

 _Shut up_

 _Don't draw attention_

Daiki pulled off the chicken and tossed it into Taiga's mouth, "Alright... My bad... Shit."

 _The only reason you aren't ash is because I'm starving_

"That's a hell of a statement to the one making you dinner." Daiki growled as he prepared another chicken.

 _Don't tempt me_

 _I'm still contemplating it_

"Should I stop now and make my escape?" Daiki rolled his eyes as he hovered the raw meat over the torch's fire.

Taiga growled.

 _Don't push your luck_

Daiki shrugged, "Well, aren't you a snarky little bastard."

Taiga's oddly split eyebrow ridges pulled down.

 _Keep talking and I'll singe your ass just for fun_

 _It's boring in here_

"I dare you to try." Daiki grumbled as he cooked.

Taiga's throat rattled with a popping growl, drawing Daiki's attention as he lifted his head and sucked in a huge breath that filled out his chest to the brim. Daiki's eyes went wide as he dropped the chicken and started to back up, knowing full well what a deep breath like that entailed. He had seen many hurt from it and no dragon rider, novice, or veteren, ever faced off with the beasts without being prepared.

With a flare of his nostrils, Taiga's mouth roared open as a fiery plume of flames came shooting out with so much heat that the cell was instantly turned into Hell. The sound was so tremendous that the roar of the dragon's fire reached outside as their white hot light careened into the stone walls, charring and fusing the rock together as if he was smoothing out clay.

Soon, the flames were cut off, leaving behind smoking dirt that had been cooked black and walls that looked as if they were melting. The basket of chicken had been thoroughly cooked and with an amused huff and a twitch in his lip that served as a smirk, he stabbed a chicken with a claw and ate it.

"You're an asshole."

The sudden voice caused Taiga to instantly lift his head in surprise, glaring hard at the rising figure that was completely shrouded with a cloak that was singed, but wholly intact. He started to growl as Daiki threw off the hot fabric onto the smoking dirt and his angry blue eyes glared right back with no hint of fear that he had been centimeters away from fire so hot that it could melt rock.

"You forgot an important thing, Prick. I'm a veteran rider and not even a novice would go into an enclosure without their dragon hide cloaks. Nice fucking try." Daiki said with a smirk.

Taiga's lip curled up as he continued to growl, but as he started to suck in another deep breath, a thoroughly blackened torch stick came blasting across his face. It snapped and shattered like it had exploded and the small slivers rained down over the remaining chickens that only served to grate against Taiga's nerves.

"Knock it off! Maybe this is why nobody wants to be around you!" Daiki boomed, clutching the torch tightly in both hands that he had swung like a bat.

Taiga snorted angrily as he brought his head back to glare hard at the Human whom was not at all phased by his actions and the fact that he could so easily kill him without having to standing up. He wasn't even turned away by the ferocity in his deep crimson eyes, or the sharp teeth that glistened. This Human was something different entirely.

With just a huff, Taiga flicked off the splinters and gobbled up a chicken before scrawling in the blackened dirt.

 _And you call me a prick_

"Damn fucking straight. You just tried to turn me to ash." Daiki snapped, tossing what was left of the stick into the corner to be forgotten.

 _I don't like you_

"Yeah, well so far, the feeling's mutual, but you burn me, then you're as good as dead." Daiki growled as he crossed his arms, still staring at the eating dragon.

 _What do you mean_

"I'm your last shot at getting out of here. You off me, than His Majesty Akashi is gonna have you put to death." Daiki said.

Taiga's eyes widened.

 _You're lying_

Daiki scoffed with a click of his tongue, "Not even a little bit. He's tired of dealing with your shit and since he wants to give me one last chance because he actually kinda likes my riding, they've thrown you to me."

 _What?_

 _They want me to be your dragon?_

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... I accepted it because I've been grounded for months. My last dragon, whom wasn't intelligent mind you, was killed." He said, gnawing on the inside of his bottom lip as he looked away.

Taiga simply snorted, but continued writing while he ate.

 _It almost sounds like we're each others last chance_

"Exactly. You want out of here, sticking with me is your only shot, so knock off the aggression." Daiki huffed with a slow shake of his head.

Taiga popped the last chicken into his mouth, still glaring and fuming at the Human with his words rattling around in his head. For an entire year, he had shunned them, blown fire to turn many to ash and all around showed nothing, but aggression, but when he had done the same with this one, he never turned around. He wanted out, wanted to fly the skies again without a care in the world, but the last year of being difficult didn't seem to cut it. The Humans wanted him dead and gone so they didn't have to put up with him anymore.

Swallowing down the last chicken, Taiga swept his clawed paw across the dirt and wrote with a claw.

 _Go away_

Daiki's brows furrowed, "No."

Taiga growled.

"I'm not going anywhere. You need to deal with it and learn to accept it... Unless you actually wanna die, than that can be arranged. I can report to my Captain-"

"No!" Came Taiga's sudden voice that instantly shut Daiki up.

"W-What?" Daiki stuttered.

Taiga lowered his head, "No... Don't go talk to him. He's come here before and I don't like him." The dragon whispered in a deep, guttural voice that came from his belly.

"Imayoshi? Kinda shorter, black hair, narrow ass eyes... Kinda creepy?" Daiki rattled off.

Taiga nodded, "Yes. He's the one who captured me a year ago and the way he stares at me just... I didn't like it." He looked away as he settled back down and lowered his head.

Daiki's anger started to cool, "We've all gotten that chill from him."

"I smell him on you." Taiga said with a snort.

Daiki cleared his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Um... Yeah, don't worry about that."

"Mate?"

Daiki shivered, "No!... Gods no... Ugh... He's a deplorable Human being... Um, I'll just say that it was so I could have better access to try and... train you?... I guess?" He looked away with uncertainty.

"Train?" Taiga grumbled.

"Well, in his defense, he doesn't exactly know you're... uh... intelligent." Daiki said, cringing at the way he sounded.

"Tell him and you're dust." Taiga huffed.

Daiki threw his hands up, "I won't... I promise."

Taiga just glared out from under his eyebrow ridges before nuzzling his head down and closing his eyes. He wanted to be left alone, but this Human couldn't take a hint, leaving him with his only option of removing the world entirely. He was thankful for the food, yes, but the company was a different matter. He had screwed up by speaking, but from the get go, this Daiki had had an inkling that something was off. It was only a matter of time before he had figured it out on his own. He was completely content to fall asleep and ignore the Human, but when a hand came down on his snout, his eyes shot wide as his head snapped up.

"Don't touch me!" Taiga snapped in a harsh whisper, his throat rumbling with his deep growl as his eyes turned from surprise to anger.

"Ok... Ok... I didn't mean to startle you." Daiki said easily and with his hands up in defense.

Taiga curled a lip, "Go. Away."

"And I've told you... No." Daiki said firmly, crossing his arms.

"Why won't you leave? I don't want you here." Taiga said before lowering his head back down to rest.

"You would've tried harder to kill me if that was the case." Daiki smirked.

Taiga popped open a single eye, "Yeah well, maybe I want out of here more than I want you dead right now, but you keep at it like you are and you're toast." He closed his eye.

"It's been a week, Taiga." Daiki deadpanned.

Taiga scoffed without even opening an eye, "A long, agonizing week of putting up with you."

Daiki pinched the bridge of his nose, "What the hell did I do? All I've done is sit here with you." He defended.

Keeping his eyes closed still, Taiga pulled his hands out from beneath his head and covered his eyes, clacking his claws on the arcs of his horns that stretched back as far as Daiki was tall. His nostrils huffed at the end of his long snout, blowing out a steady stream of smoke that fluttered up as if someone had just blown out a candle. He didn't want to keep talking, didn't want to be in the company of this persistent Human, but he wasn't sure what else he could do and still maintain his chances of getting out without having to face _them_.

After a few moments, Taiga dropped his hands and lifted his head to glare at the Human with narrowed crimson eyes.

"It's your peoples' fault why my kind is gone. Humans looked at Drakes as prizes and not equals, so they hunted us into extinction. The only reason I'm alive now is because I've played it off that I'm just one of your stupid wyvrens." Taiga hissed with a curl in his upper jowls.

"That was centuries ago, Idiot. You can't possibly-" Daiki was cut off.

"I'm 230 years old, Moron." Taiga growled, his whole head tracking to follow Daiki's pacing.

Daiki reeled, "What?... Seriously?"

Taiga rubbed a hand down his snout, "No, I'm making it up. I hatched last week." He deadpanned.

"No wonder nobody likes you." Daiki rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine with that. The less of you tiny weaklings that like me, the better. Maybe once I get out of here, then I'll be left alone." Taiga said as he recrossed his wrists and laid his big head down.

"Fuck off... His Majesty must really hate me to throw me to you." Daiki scoffed.

"Keep coming back and I just might eat you for the fun of it... Now go away." Taiga closed his eyes once more.

"Fine... You fucking win. See if I come back. You can die in here whenever that's gonna be." Daiki growled, scooping down to pick up his cloak.

"Only 99,770 years to go. By the time that happens, this place should've crumbled." Taiga huffed without opening his eyes.

Daiki froze, "W-What? What're you talking about?" He glanced back.

"My kind was known to live for 100,000 years. Now go blow off and leave me alone. I'm tired." Taiga snapped.

With a growl, Daiki pursed his lips together before throwing the door open and slamming it closed. He latched it and stormed down the corridor, throwing his dragon hide cloak back over his shoulders while he fumed. He was angry, but if someone had asked him why, he doubted he could tell them. The dragon grated against his every nerve, more so than his Captain and occasional trick. He had no idea why the dragon, this Taiga, hated Humans so much, but he understood that being locked up in the Hold for a year was most likely the strongest contributor. He needed to understand better, needed to find out more information, so as he climbed onto his horse, he headed back to town with a singular destination in mind.

He rode hard back to town and returned the horse to the King's stables before near marching his way to the nearest tavern; The Dragon's Fyre. He slipped through the door to go unnoticed by the other patrons as they laughed, ate, drank and flirted with the tavern wenches, one of which happened to be the girl Daiki had caught with Captain Imayoshi. She didn't even notice him as he walked by and went to the bar that was tended to by an aged woman with a rather nasty burn scar on the left side of her face, but it was long healed and if the light didn't hit it just right, it was near invisible.

"Mead." Daiki demanded as he sat down on his chosen stool and firmly planted his elbows onto the bar top.

"Well, don't you look a little singed." The woman said with an ashy gruff to her aged voice.

Daiki rubbed his hair, "I don't even know where to begin, but I need to ask you some questions." He looked up at her as she poured a tankard from the large keg barrel behind the bar.

"Sure, Sugar. What you need?" She asked, setting the tankard down to let the foam settle.

"What all do you know about those tall tales from a couple centuries ago?" Daiki asked, crossing his arms on the bar top.

"Which ones?" She asked, topping off the tankard before setting it in front of Daiki.

"Dragons with our minds." Daiki said before taking a long drag of his booze.

The woman's brows furrowed as she returned to cleaning some returned tankards, "Ah... The Drakes. Why you wanna know about them?"

Daiki shrugged, "Just overheard a woman telling her kids. I wanna know what happened." He lied.

"You're gonna need more mead." The woman said with a crooked smirk.

"I've got all night."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Author's Note: I lied... It's Christmas... Have Chapter 3! :D**

Inside the Hold, time didn't matter. Being stuck in the darkness just made it blur together into a solid stream like a river. When the sun came up didn't matter, nor when the sky turned dark, as each day, each hour, each minute, all Taiga did was lay there and sleep.

Ever since that night where the Human known as Daiki had come to him, he hadn't been back. For another solid week, Taiga was left there alone, only being checked on by the guards every now and again where sometimes they brought raw meat and just left it inside the heavy door before disappearing. For that, he was grateful, as it gave him a chance to flame the meat without drawing suspicion, but more often than not, he found himself thinking about the only Human whom knew exactly what he was.

As much as he tried to sleep, his mind was ticking with when a squad would come by to claim his head as a trophy. For over two hundred years, he had passed himself off that he was just a wild animal, mindless and instinctual, but day in and day out, no one other than the guards came by.

With a heavy huff of air, Taiga pushed himself up onto his feet to pace around the cell, just trying to move his muscles that were stiff more often than not as of late. He hadn't been outside in a year, hadn't breathed fresh air in a year, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he began to wither away. His claws marred the dirt as he walked on all fours, shifting and trying to spread his giant leathery wings, but there simply wasn't any room to fully stretch. His wing pressed against the large solid door where he had rubbed up against it countless times, sometimes even rubbing his crimson hide raw just in an attempt to get out without drawing the attention of _them_. He had tried so many times to break the door, but with their knowledge on how to confine dragons, the wood was not only coated in Icemirth oil, but the metal bolts and hinges were forged from Glacial ore. It was all flame proof.

Taiga sighed once more as he rolled out his shoulders before laying back down, wrapping his long tail around himself as his rear legs laid limp by his side. He crossed his wrists and laid his head down, fully intent on going back to sleep, but when the heavy, echoing thunk of the metal bolts that held the large door closed broke the silence, Taiga's head shot up.

He started to growl as he rose to his feet, ducking his head and neck low as his teeth bared. He crouched and watched, listening as the gears in the door began to turn, clunking as they drew back the army of heavy bolts until they fully retracted into place. His huge heart had begun to hammer with the anticipation that this was it, that Daiki had told his superiors and they had come for his head, but when the doors parted and began to pull open by the mechanisms inside, all that stood there with his arms crossed was that very Human. And he was alone.

Seeing him, Taiga stopped growling and lifted his head up with confusion, having to squint his eyes a bit from the sharp moonlight. His eyes hadn't seen any form of light other than firelight in a year, and even the soft silver seemed to sear his pupils. It was a clear night, a warm night and as Daiki just stood there and stared, Taiga huffed and laid back down.

"What do you want?" Taiga grunted as he turned his head away from the Human.

"You calmed down?" Daiki asked, not making a move as he continued to stare.

Taiga just snorted and nuzzled down to go to sleep.

"I'll take that as a no." Daiki scoffed.

Taiga snarled, "Why are you here? Why did you open the door?"

"We're going for a walk." Daiki said bluntly, dropping his arms as he stepped inside the opened cell.

Taiga lifted his head once more, "Huh?... What for?"

"To get you some exercise. Why else would one go for a walk?" Daiki smirked, stopping a few feet away from the dragon and recrossing his arms.

Taiga huffed out through his nostrils, "You can't be sure I won't just fly off." His eyes narrowed.

"Yes I can... You've been locked up for a year, so until you regain your strength, your feet aren't leaving the ground." Daiki said as his smirk grew.

Taiga curled the jowl on one side of his mouth, "Go away."

"Oh, don't go starting that again. Come on... It'll do you some good." Daiki said with a gentle backhand against Taiga's thick forearm that was as big around as his leg.

"I hate how stubborn you are." Taiga growled and glared.

"Says the stubborn one. Now come on. We've got all night." Daiki said before turning and heading back through the door.

Taiga glared at the back of his head, tilting it in curiosity as Daiki continued to walk, his cloak softly billowing with the gentle breeze, but it was that very breeze that made his eyes roll into the back of his head. He hadn't smelt fresh air in a year, and it was so sweet that his lungs instantly begged for more. It felt refreshing as it grazed over his crimson hide, briefly touching his wings, and the longer the door was left open, the more he wanted to follow.

Sucking in a deep lungful of the night air, Taiga rose up onto all fours before daring to take a step forward, pausing at the door's threshold to peer out and look around with eyes vigilant for the four legged nightmares that paced the Hold. There was nothing, not a soul. Even the guards were missing and which meant, they had taken _them_ with them. He looked up at the twinkling stars and they seemed so strange, so alien to him, but at the same time, they were familiar and inviting. It was a quiet night and one that was wholly suited for going for a walk.

"You're almost there. Come on, will ya?" Daiki's voice said from not far away.

Taiga shifted his gaze back to the Human, just standing and waiting with his arms crossed. He puffed out his chest and raised his head high, knowing that Daiki was right in that his chances of flying were so low, they were underground and wanting to feel more of the breeze, he stepped out into the night for the first time in a year.

The cool grass beneath his feet was soft, swaying in the breeze that made his hide shiver with delight. He spread his wings to their full stretch, groaning with relief at the feel as his muscles releasing the built up tension. It felt so good to open his wings, even if he had lost a great deal of strength from his confinement and wouldn't be able to take to the air, but he simply didn't care. The leathery membrane that stretched between the thick spines softly buffeted as it stretched to catch what wind was there and he actually felt himself, for a moment, get lighter.

It wasn't until he heard a low laugh that his attention returned to where he was and whom he was with, opening his eyes to glare down at the Human now standing at his feet and looking up at him.

"Feeling better?" Daiki asked, not phased by how large Taiga was when he wasn't curled up into a corner.

Taiga snorted, "Yes." He nearly said it too low for Daiki to hear.

"It's a start... Come on. We're just gonna walk and talk." Daiki said as he reached inside his cloak and pulled out a harness and rope lead.

The second Taiga saw it, his large teeth bared as his throat rumbled with a growl. His claws dug into the ground as he lowered his head threateningly, leveling his eyes with Daiki's that simply stared back with no hint of fear. He remembered that harness, how it made him feel, how it degraded him and there was no chance in hell he was going to let this tiny Human put it on him.

"Stop." Daiki said bluntly.

Taiga's eyes narrowed, but the more Daiki didn't move, the less confident he felt that showing his aggression was going to work in deterring the Human. He continued to growl for a few more moments before it started to ebb away and his jowls lowered to cover his teeth. Most Humans would have relented, but not Daiki. He still held no fear, nor did he hold hatred for him and therefore, Taiga was still confused about what to make of him.

"I can get rid of the guards for a short time, but not everyone. If someone sees me walking around with a dragon not on a lead, they might get suspicious." Daiki said, simply holding the harness in both hands to show that it was just a harness.

Taiga's eyes narrowed, "Fine." He grumbled as he lowered his head down that last little bit so Daiki could reach it.

Daiki slowly exhaled as he unbuckled the leather straps before slipping it over Taiga's head, settling it comfortably around his twin horns and making sure the straps weren't digging into his hide. He buckled the straps until they were just shy of being snug, which was where it would normally be if he wasn't dealing with an intelligent dragon that he had learned were referred to as Drakes.

"There... How's that feel?" Daiki asked, looking dead into Taiga's crimson eye as he adjusted the harness a bit more.

"Fine, I guess." Taiga huffed.

Daiki lifted the clasp of the lead and hooked it to the D-ring on the bottom of the harness, "Just relax. All we're doing is a walk."

With the lead in hand, Daiki began to walk with no real direction in mind, loosely holding the rope since he didn't need to guide the large dragon. The distant chirping of the crickets was overshadowed by the heavy stomps of Taiga's feet as he walk on all fours, his wings tucked in close that rustled and brushed against his side. Having finally gotten the dragon outside, Daiki was given a chance to truly see him, truly see that he was large and with a line of spines that trailed down his back and all the way down his tail to its end. His tail alone was just as long as his feline style body was and it lazily swayed with each stride he took. Even Daiki had to admit that Taiga was a magnificent creature.

"So... Hope you weren't too bored while I was gone." Daiki said after a few minutes of silence as they walked.

"Just like every other week, so no big deal." Taiga said simply as he just stared ahead, his strides small and slow so not to outpace the Human.

"I'm sorry, but it took me a week to look into the Draken Conflict." Daiki said, earning a brief glance from the dragon.

"You could've just asked." Taiga said with a snort.

"Didn't really wanna ask you." Daiki shot back, looking up to meet Taiga's eye.

"It was centuries ago, so it doesn't matter." Taiga said as he looked back forward.

"My people slaughtered yours and I'm tasked with somehow managing to become friends with you, so yeah... It kinda matters." Daiki said, clipping his end of the lead to his belt.

"You're off to a great start." Taiga grunted snidely as he rolled his eyes.

"How did your people even get overpowered by a bunch of tiny Humans anyways? I read that some of you were gargantuan sized, as big as castles... I don't get it." Daiki said, still walking and looking up to meet the dragon's gaze even though it wasn't looking back.

Taiga sighed, "It was never one on one. The Humans always came at us in droves. Sometimes 40, maybe even 50 people at a time to overpower us. The eldest of us would reach gargantuan size, but they were hunted by kings so their heads could be hung as trophies on their walls. Clutches were burned, broodmothers were slain and even hatchlings' throats were slit. The Humans hated us... Still do." He explained as he walked.

"Did you fight?" Daiki asked.

Taiga shook his head, "No... I was too young; Just a hatchling no bigger than you. My broodmother was charged with protecting the clutches of not only her eggs, but three others. We were all tucked away inside the heat den, but that's when _they_ came. My broodmother tried to protect us, but the Humans flanked her and started slaying the hatchlings right before her eyes. She was distracted with what they were doing and that's when they struck her down. I ran away... That was the first time I had ever flown and it was to run away."

Daiki slowly exhaled, "You've been hiding ever since."

This time, Taiga nodded, "Hiding in plain sight as it were. The Drakes are oddities to your people. You're used to wyvrens who are just mindless beasts, but then there's us; Intelligent beings who just look like them. I learned real quick it was better to play dumb, than try to hide."

"How old were you when you fled?" Daiki asked softly, glancing ahead for just a moment to make sure they weren't walking into anything.

"16 years... That equates to roughly... just a few months in Human terms. I barely had a tooth poking out of my mouth." Taiga said, giving his head a soft shake to adjust the harness that was lightly chaffing against his head.

Daiki gripped the meat of his shoulder, "Wow... To think an infant had to survive on his own like that."

"Pretty much. I cowered in a cave for days, just... curled into a ball. I've hated Humans ever since." Taiga said, glancing down at the grass as both kept walking.

"Well that explains all the aggression at least." Daiki said simply.

Taiga huffed, "You don't know the half of it."

"Don't really want to. Just wanna get back in the air." Daiki said with a gentle tug on the lead to coax Taiga to angle left a bit.

"Try another dragon. There's no chance in hell you're getting on my back." Taiga grunted with another shake of his head.

Daiki stopped walking and tugged the lead once more, stopping Taiga's walk, "Bring your head down. I'll fix it."

Taiga just let out an exasperated sigh, but did as Daiki had requested and lowered his head until it was level with his torso.

"What's it gonna take to get you to trust me, huh?" Daiki asked, his voice a bit hard as he began to adjust the harness.

"Not being Human is a start." Taiga huffed.

"There isn't much I can do about that." Daiki said, tightening the strap that looped behind Taiga's horns a single hole to hold it in place better.

However, before he could fully strap it down, Taiga snorted and swept his head to the side, shoving it right into Daiki's gut and tossing him aside. The Human's gritty attitude was sandpaper on his nerves and he wanted to show him a thing, or two, but he had forgotten the lead was still clipped to his belt. The force of Daiki being flung away yanked him down onto his belly and with his head connected by rope to his belt, his head dropped down heavily onto Daiki's stomach.

"Oof!" Daiki huffed out, his breath being forced from his lungs by the heavy head that had landed on top of him.

"What the hell you do that for!" Taiga growled, firmly planting his front feet into the ground to push himself up, but didn't since Daiki was holding onto his nose.

"Not my fault! You tossed me!" Daiki growled back, gripping the small nose horn that tipped Taiga's snout.

"My fault? I'm not the idiot who clipped the lead to his belt!" Taiga huffed again, blowing a hard breath right into Daiki's face that had started to smirk.

"No, you're the idiot who let me put a harness on your head!" Daiki grinned wider.

Taiga growled and bared only the tips of his teeth as he lifted his head, but Daiki, as stubborn and irritating as he was, clung to his nose like a monkey on a tree branch.

"Get off! My nose isn't a tree you know!" Taiga growled even more, shaking his head to try and dislodge the Human.

"Then flame me off." Daiki said with a dead serious look in his eyes.

With Daiki hanging off his nose, Taiga could clearly see the seriousness, see the cold stare as he dared him. There was no amusement, no hint of joking in his tone as he clung to his snout, gripping the small horn with a leg hooked over his long snout. He could so easily blow him away, fry him to a crisp and run, but the fact remained that Daiki didn't seem to be afraid.

Taiga slowly exhaled as he lowered his head until Daiki's feet could touch the ground.

"Why are you so persistent? Why not just report what I am?" Taiga asked as Daiki slipped off and released his snout.

"Reporting you won't earn your trust." Daiki said, keeping a surprisingly gentle hand on Taiga's nose.

"What makes you think I'm trusting you?" Taiga asked coldly, but settled himself on his belly and crossed his front legs.

"I'm still alive." Daiki said plainly.

Taiga just watched the softening expression on Daiki's face with short glances at the hand still on his nose. It wasn't a threatening hand, but rather, a gentle one, how its touch was warm and not at all like the cold steel of a blade from those trying to do him harm. When that very hand softly rubbed the top of his snout, it was the first time he had ever felt a gentle touch.

Daiki started to smile as Taiga's narrowed eyes relaxed, softly and slowly running his hand up and down the dragon's snout. The hide was thick, but warm, firm as it stretched right over the rock solid bone of his skull. It felt like soft felted leather, the kind reserved for kings and it was a sensation that never failed to make Daiki's lips twitch with a small smile.

"Not every Human wants to kill you, you know." He said, slowly running his hand a little further up Taiga's nose with each pass.

Taiga slowly exhaled so not to jar Daiki as his throat lowly rattled with a low groan, still watching as the aggression left his muscles. Daiki had been right; At any time he could have flamed him to ash, but he had yet to do it when the Human was vulnerable. The only time he had unleashed his hellfire on the man, was when he was protected and no other time. By all rights, he should have, but each time Daiki had visited him, he had found he had missed having company that didn't look at him like a trophy.

With a low continued groan, Taiga fully relaxed and nudged his head a bit further into Daiki's arms, closing his eyes as that rumble continued, almost as if it was a purr. Daiki softly laughed at the sound as both his hands found their way onto Taiga's head, running along the firm ridges and around his eyes that were half lidded and soft. He was relaxing and it was their first, real step towards becoming dragon and rider.

"I'm uh... sorry I flamed you last week." Taiga said without moving his head, finding that Daiki's soft touch was calming.

Daiki's smile broadened for a brief moment, "It's alright. It's not the first time. In fact, the first time it happened, I got burned pretty bad."

Taiga's eyes opened just a little wider, "You did?" He lifted his head up out of Daiki's grasp and tilted it slightly with curiosity.

"Fuck yeah, I did. Check this out." Daiki said, sweeping his cloak to the side and pulling up his right pant leg to show the scar on the outside of his calf.

"Nice one... Looks like the fire of a Pyro-Whelp." Taiga said, pointing his claw to a peculiar arc in the scar that was familiar to him.

"That's exactly what did it. Nice work." Daiki said, letting his pant leg down.

"I got attacked by a whole flock of the little shits a couple decades ago... See?" Taiga said as he lifted his left wing and extended it high to show his own series of similar scars that had been hidden by the large expanse of his folded wing.

Daiki's brows lightly furrowed as he unclipped the lead and walked over, letting it drop to the ground with the knowledge that Taiga wouldn't go anywhere. With each step, the scarring became clearer in the moonlight and it stretched from the front of where his wing molded into his body, all the way to the back. A distance of a little over six feet.

"Boy... They did a number on you." Daiki said as he ran his fingertips along the long marks.

"Yeah... Taught me never to go after their nests. I was half the size I am now, so it didn't take them long to swamp me." Taiga said, actually raising a paw to scratch his long neck.

"Seriously? You went after their nest? You're a brainy one, aren't you." Daiki snickered as he dropped his arm to his side.

"What?... I was young and trying to make it on my own. It's not like I had anyone to tell me differently." Taiga shrugged, lowering his from leg as he watched Daiki remove his cloak and lift his shirt to expose his ribs and the smooth line that carved over them.

"Sword training. Caught a slice in the ribs. It put me down for a couple months." Daiki smirked with pride.

"A Human did that? What did you do to him?" Taiga asked, lowering his head to get a better look at the scar.

Daiki barked a laugh, "Nothing. I was on my face and bleeding. It was just a training accident anyways." He shrugged.

Taiga lifted his head, "I would've flamed him."

"I didn't really have that option." Daiki laughed a bit more before lowering his tunic.

"Check this one out-" Taiga said as he rolled onto his side to expose his belly, "Got stabbed with a halberd from a gang of orcs looking to severe my head. That was... oh gods... twenty? Thirty years ago, or so?"

Daiki stepped over Taiga's tail to step up to the pale tan hide of Taiga's belly, seeing a harsh and ugly scar that was well healed, but rough. It was just above his thigh and below his ribs, what would roughly be somewhere around a Human's hips, shaped like a rough cross with crooked lines and squiggles and it told him that Taiga had struggled with the halberd's head still embedded in his flesh.

"What you do? Wiggle it around?" Daiki asked crookedly as he placed his hand on it to feel how rough it was against Taiga's smooth hide.

"No. The orc did. He tried gutting me, but it didn't end well... obviously. Flamed the whole gang, but orc isn't my preferred delicacy." Taiga rolled with a bit of laughter as he laid his head down on the grass to fully lay on his side in the cool grass.

"Well no shit! They don't bathe!" Daiki returned with his own laughter as he stepped back away from Taiga's belly, but ended up tripping over that very tail he had stepped over.

Daiki fell back onto the grass with a guttural laughter rolling through his throat that was joined with the deeper notes of Taiga's. They both laughed as Taiga lifted his tail and laid it back down on Daiki's other side to encircle him, his streamlined belly hopping with his laughter. His eyes were even closed as he laughed and it had been so long, that the sound was like hearing the wind for the first time.

"Good going, twinkle toes. How'd you manage that?" Taiga chortled through his laughter, his cheeks pulling up to expose his teeth in a dragon's smile.

"Shut up! It's not like I have a whole lot of experience with tails!" Daiki continued to laugh as he just laid there with an arm across his stomach.

"It's not like it sneaks up on you." Taiga said, rolling back onto his belly and curling his neck around to look at Daiki still laying on the grass.

"Maybe not you, but me, yeah. It's not attached to my ass." Daiki said, craning his head back to look Taiga in the eye upside down.

"You get used to it." Taiga said, tilting his head.

Daiki's smile broadened for a moment before fading as he sat up, turning around a bit so he wasn't having to crane his head to meet the Drake's gaze.

"We have a week." He said, his laughter and smile gone entirely.

Taiga raised his head a bit, "A week?... For what?" He asked with another slight tilt of his head.

"To prove to my Captain that I've tamed you. If we fly together then, we'll get a mission." Daiki said, pulling a blade of grass to fiddle with it.

Taiga's eyes narrowed as his brow ridges pulled down, "A week?... Oh hell no! You're not getting on my back!"

"Then you go to slaughter and there won't be anything I can do about it. You and I have to fly, or the King deems you too wild and he'll order your head severed. That's it." Daiki said, his eyes reflecting with worry in the silver light of the moon.

Taiga curled a jowl, "I'm not some animal you can ride. I'm not a mount." He growled.

"I know that, but unless you wanna die, then you've gotta trust me. I'm a rider... Have been for a long while. This is what I do, Taiga." Daiki said.

"Then why were you grounded? What happened to your last wyvren?" Taiga asked, still glaring and with the tips of his teeth exposed.

Daiki sighed as his shoulders dropped, looking away from the crimson gaze in favor of staring at the darkened grass. The accident was still fresh in his mind, still raw despite the passing of time. He had no real intention of telling the Drake what had happened, but he wasn't going to lie, as that would not earn trust.

With another sigh, Daiki rubbed the back of his head and let the memory out.

"We were out on patrol near the Southern border, flying along the wall that separates Ghoulish territory with ours. It was getting late, but I refused to head in because I was checking out a lead that there might have been a breach in the wall. My wyvren had been flying all day and I ignored the signs that he was exhausted, but we kept going... Kept pushing." He refused to look up from the ground.

"He dropped." Taiga said.

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... I didn't know, but he had a hairline fracture in his left wing. No one caught it, and the stress of flying all day like that just... brought it to bear. His wing snapped and we dropped right out of the sky. We weren't all that high, so we could have survived, but I bailed because I saw a ghoul scouting squad in the trees. I didn't even bother to think that he still needed me, but I ditched anyways." He said, his eyes having gone blank as he stared ahead.

"What happened?" Taiga near whispered.

At hearing Taiga's voice, Daiki's dark blue eyes became seeing again as he actually steeled his nerves to look into the crimson. His chest hurt, but he pressed on.

"After I dealt with the ghouls, I went to find him, but when I did... He was already gone. He hit the canopy and rolled and when he hit the ground, he broke his neck. It paralyzed him, but didn't kill him. Instead, that came when another group of ghouls found him first and started eating him before he was even dead. I'll never forget that scream." His eyes became glassy.

"Did you end it?" Taiga asked with zero emotion in his tone.

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... Arrow through the skull... Right in the apricot." He looked back down at the grass.

"And that's when they grounded you." Taiga said.

"Yeah... Desertion of the King's assets... My third charge." Daiki admitted as he gnawed on the inside of his bottom lip.

"And they sent you to me hoping for... what? Soul searching?" Taiga asked, his tone harsh and judgmental.

Daiki shrugged, "I don't know... I just... I just don't know. All I know is that I have a second chance-"

"Fourth by the sounds of it." Taiga interrupted.

Daiki closed his eyes, but nodded, "Yeah... I guess so."

Taiga snorted as he glared down at the man, how he wouldn't look up to meet his gaze, and how his shoulders were slumped in defeat. He was a broken man, a lost man just trying to find his way and he was given a chance that turned out to be near impossible. If he had been a plain wyvren, an animal, then Daiki would more than likely have already taken to the sky, but since he was a Drake, a race of dragons with remarkable intelligence, he was fighting a losing battle. Taiga was starting to feel that they were in the same boat.

"Why tell me what happened? You had to have known how it would make you look." Taiga said after a few minutes, still not earning Daiki's ashamed gaze.

"I know... But it's like I said earlier; You won't trust me if I lie to you." Daiki said, this time looking up to reveal saddened eyes.

Taiga sighed and plopped a clawed paw down on his snout with a groan, "For the love of all that's holy... You thought it was a good idea to tell me that you've dropped three dragons with the hopes of faking that we're all buddy buddy so you can keep your job?"

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... That's about it." He said plainly.

Taiga took his paw away, "Wonderful... And we have a week to make this work and me to let you on my back... I thought I could make it out of this with at least some dignity." He groaned and rolled his eyes.

Daiki scoffed, "I haven't had dignity in years." He slowly shook his head as he looked away.

"Oh, I'm sure. You've been sucking off that creepy Captain of yours for awhile. That's a great idea." Taiga scoffed.

Daiki's brows furrowed, "What did I tell you last week? I said not to worry about it." He frowned.

"Can't." Taiga said with a tap to his nose.

Daiki growled, "Well ignore it then. It's the only reason I'm not some begger living in an alley."

"I won't ask." Taiga sighed.

"Tough shit... I cowtow to whatever he wants because I love being a rider more. I'm good at it and it's the only thing I have that's mine. If that means I set my dignity aside to keep it, than so be it. I'm not proud of it, fuck no, but I do it because if I didn't have riding, I'd have nothing. You're my last chance, Taiga, and if this takes me promising that after all this, I'll let you go, than fine. Just give me one last ride before it's all gone." Daiki said, his eyes heavy and shining bright with barely contained moisture.

Taiga felt his heart thump as he sucked in a long breath, "So you've resulted to begging, hmm?"

With a snarl, Daiki shot to his feet, this time stepping over Taiga's tail to march away, but he only made it a short distant before a small ball of flame whizzed passed him to singe the grass and make him stop.

"Who said we were done?" Taiga said from behind him.

Daiki didn't turn around, "You made it obvious."

"Fuck you... I did nothing of the sort. Just find it odd that a rider is begging with his potential dragon." Taiga scoffed, still laying on his belly with his front legs crossed like a majestic tiger.

This time, Daiki turned around as a single, large tear fell from his eye, "Tell you what... I'll let you decide how this goes. You know the stakes, so I'll leave you right there, just as you are. I'll come back tomorrow night and if you're gone, then I turn in my papers and I'm done being a rider. I'll be that begger in the alley, but if you're still here... Then maybe we both have that second chance."

All Taiga could manage to do was lay there as Daiki walked off, leaving him out in the meadow and completely without restriction. The moon was high overhead, shining brightly and surrounded by loyal stars and under that silver cover, he found himself completely free to leave. The open air was inviting him to, was begging him to just as much as Daiki's tone had been, but he couldn't make his body work. All he could manage was to watch the man walk away until his shadow was completely gone, and the whole time he watched, all his mind could think of was where to flee, but his heart was speaking louder.

Never in his long 230 years had a Human, any Human, shown him any sort of gentleness, or kindness. Never had he experienced such gestures where a soul was trying to save his life. He had only ever experienced hatred and violence, so hearing Daiki say that both their futures were in his paws was something he didn't know what to do with.

Not knowing what to do, he just laid there in the grass, staring up at the twinkling sky with the hopes that maybe the stars would grant him his answer, but all they did was wink at him. They hung quietly in their inky blackness, never saying a word, or pointing him in the right direction. The air was quiet, but perhaps it wasn't the stars that were meant to give him his answers.

The nearby trees began to rustle with the passing breeze, their leaves grazing over each other with gentle touches and it was that thought that made his snout tickle with the phantom sensations of Daiki's hands. He had been so relaxed, so at ease that it made him tense all over again at the strangeness of it. He truly was at a loss, and with the stars not providing his answer, he turned his attention to the grass.

He turned his front paw over to look at his palm, his hand that served as a paw more often than not. He had to admit that his hand was really no different than Daiki's. He had a thumb and four fingers, all tipped with razor sharp claws, but his fingers were short, thick and more like toes. He touched his paw to his snout, but the sensation wasn't the same, wasn't as soft, or gentle. He knew he was so much stronger, but even with all that strength, he found himself wanting a gentler touch.

Drawing in a deep breath, Taiga rose up onto all fours and stretched, spreading his wings wide and high as he yawned big enough to see down his throat. It felt so good to have the room to stretch, like a cold drink of water on a hot day, but that room would soon shrink down to what he had known for a year.

With one final look up at the clear and beautiful night sky, Taiga turned back towards the Hold.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Author's Note: Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Here's Chapter 4!**

Daiki hadn't slept for yet another night. Instead, he had laid in his bed staring blindly up at the underside of the top bunk with its snoring resident that sounded more like a growling worg than a person. His mind was too active anyways, too hot to allow him to sleep, so instead of trying, he just let the night pass him by.

When dawn had come, he rousted and went to find something to eat, finding it in the form of a breakfast at his favorite tavern. The porridge wasn't the best, but it was hot and cheap, and since he and the tavern's owner, Natalie Drakefyre, were on such good terms, it usually came with a tankard of mead.

The morning was ordinary in the tavern with a few patrons scattered around while Natalie and her barmaids worked to prepare the tavern for the day. The air inside was taking on the scent of the day's available meals and the tables were all cleaned from the previous nights rowdiness. The floor was cleaned and many of the windows were being opened to allow fresh air to take the smell of food outside to help draw people in. It was a calm morning and once Daiki had stepped through the familiar door of The Dragon's Fyre, it only took its owner a second to see that his young, attractive face wasn't set into its usual smirk.

"I know that face, Sugar. You have another sleepless night?" Natalie asked as she pulled a readied plate from the serving window to give it to another awaiting patron while Daiki sat down on his usual stool.

Daiki nodded, "Yeah." He said blandly, scrubbing his hair while Natalie poured him a drink.

"Man, woman, or yourself?" Natalie asked, huffing a small yet crooked smirk as she set the filled, foam topped tankard down in front of him.

Daiki shrugged, "Myself."

"Hope you at least had a good time." Natalie chuckled as she leaned on her hands.

"You know me, Nat. It's always a good time." Daiki said without even looking up from his tankard.

Natalie smirked for another brief moment before picking up a readied bowl and setting it down in front of him where she watched Daiki for several minutes while he started to eat. The lack of sleep showed in his darker skin, how that rich, caramel color seemed to lose its vibrancy, and how the blue of his eyes was just on this side of being gray. The bags were beginning to form and he was lacking that usual gruffness that she liked so much. Something was kicking his ass, but she wasn't going to pry... Too much.

"Whatever's on your mind, Sugar, I'm sure the answer will find you." She said after awhile, putting away the cleaned tankards on the shelves in the back of the bar.

"Is it bad that I'm not willing to bet money on that?" He asked as he finally looked up from his meal.

"A betting man is usually a foolish one, Sugar. The Fates always have something else in mind." Natalie said as she leaned over to rest her elbow on the bar and seated her chin in her palm.

Daiki huffed, "Don't I know it," he took the last bite of his porridge, "Thanks, Nat." He said, pushing the bowl away.

"No need to thank me. What's on your mind that's got you in such a state?" Natalie asked, ignoring the bowl to watch Daiki's eyes instead.

Daiki rubbed the back of his head as he let out a long sigh, "Looking for help around here? I might be out of a job by tonight."

Natalie's brows furrowed, "I'm not sure I heard you right, Sugar. Did you just ask me for a job?" She stood up and placed both hands down on the bar.

"Yup." Daiki said with a pop of his lips.

"Sugar, you're a rider, not a bar hand. Why are you hanging up your reins?" Natalie asked, her brows still furrowed at the man's sudden declaration.

Daiki sighed again, "It's been months since I was grounded and I probably just let my last chance slip through my fingers, so... yeah... I need work. Got any room? Got _a_ room?" He smirked crookedly.

"Now... This isn't the Daiki Aomine I know. That man wouldn't be giving up so easily. The one sitting in front of me almost looks like he's given up on life." Natalie said, relaxing her brows.

Daiki half shrugged, "Maybe it's just time for me to admit that me being a rider is over."

Natalie rasped her lips, "Bullshit... You're the type to be in those saddles till the day you die. What's gotten into you?"

"Just hit a wall, I guess. A very stubborn, aggravating wall." Daiki said as he scrubbed his hair.

"Look, Sugar... There's no way you'd let a simple 'wall' get in your way from being a rider. You're too good to just give up. You didn't give up when you got burned, and you certainly didn't give up when you got hurt during training. A wall should just be an annoyance for you at this point." Natalie said, having cupped his chin to lift his hung head so she could look into his tired eyes.

"I know you're right, Nat, but I can't be a rider without a dragon. I'm missing that second part." Daiki said as he took his chin from her rather strong fingers.

"Then go get it. Don't just sit on your ass in my bar and mope. You aren't good at it." Natalie said, her brows furrowing and her tone stern as if she were chastising a child.

Daiki huffed a crooked smirk, "Maybe so, but I'll find out tonight."

"Why wait?" Natalie asked plainly with her own matching smirk.

Daiki held his breath in preparation to retort, but he had to be honest with himself; He couldn't. She was right, just like she always was and it's part of why he went to her for advice. He was young, roughly half her age, and with no family to speak of, she was the closest thing to a mother he had. He had sought her advice on more than one occasion, and she had freely given it in return, but as he sat in the same stool he always sat in, he realized that she was entirely right. Just like always.

"You're right. Thanks for breakfast, Nat. I've got a saddle to alter." Daiki said, his smile evening out into a soft arc as he patted the bar top and stood.

"What? What's wrong with your usual one?" Natalie asked as she picked up a returned tankard in preparation for washing it.

"Too small." Daiki said back over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

It was shaping up to be another warm day, but not nearly as warm as it had been. The sun was already beginning to heat the air, but the town was still bathed in the shadow of the stone wall. It was cool for once while he walked back to the rider's barracks, heading for the equipment lauder for his saddle that was smooth with dust before gathering some coin from his trunk and heading off for the leatherworker's shop. With Taiga's greater size, he needed new straps made that would secure the saddle to his body; At the base of the neck with their legs right in front of the their dragon's wings. It was a spot that didn't restrict the dragon's movements, and despite Taiga's physical form being larger than the wyvren dragons, it was still the spot where he would be, if in fact, Taiga was still there.

He reached the shop to find it just opening and as he stepped inside, he was warmly greeted by the shop's owner. He was a much older man with well worked hands; The kind of hands one earned from a lifetime's worth of work. He had owned his shop for decades and was well respected amongst riders and even the King had ordered his ceremonial saddle for not only his dragon, but for his prized white horse as well.

Without having the actual measurements needed for the straps, the artisan leatherworker made them with a few extra holes just to ensure that they would work while Daiki set off to finish a few more errands. It didn't take the man long to work the straps and by the time he had returned, the leatherworker was had finished and had wrapped the saddle in a cloth to keep it bundled.

By the time Daiki was cleaned, dressed and arrived at the horse stables with his new saddle carried on his arms, the sun was just peaking over the top of the stone wall, casting aside the heavy shadows with its bright rays. He strapped the saddle to the horse, just behind the saddle before climbing up, taking a few moments to settle his nerves. He was ready to try, ready to see what would happen when he reached the Hold, but a small part of him feared that when he got there, the cell would be empty.

With a stiff exhale, he set off, riding with a gentle canter along the road towards the Hold with not really being in a hurry to have his hopes dashed. Natalie was right that he should fight for what he loves, but he could only fight if Taiga hadn't left. He doubted what he would find when he reached the Hold, but as it came into view, he saw the two guards just standing their posts much like they always did and with their guard dogs just lazing about like petulant teenagers.

"Good morning, Lieutenant." Both the guards said as they both shot to attention.

"At ease... Good morning." Daiki said, blowing out a stiff breath as he stopped the horse and slid down to the ground.

"You're early today, Lieutenant. Eager to see Buddy?" The guard on the left asked as he took the horse's reins while Daiki froze from unstrapping the gathered saddle.

"What?... He's here?" Daiki asked before he could think better of it.

The guard's brows furrowed, "Huh?... Of course he is. We checked on him this morning. He was just sleeping like he always does."

"I see... Right... I guess uh... I guess that request got denied." Daiki lied to cover up his reaction.

Daiki's heart started to thump at the news. Taiga had returned to the cell instead of taking off, had taken the choice to give them both a second chance. He had doubted it, but Taiga was turning out to be full of surprises. He started to smile knowing that his coin hadn't gone to waste as he finished unstrapping his saddle.

With a thankful nod at the guard and the saddle bundle in his arms, Daiki headed around towards the back of the hold where the large door to Taiga's cell was closed and locked. His brows furrowed, as he hadn't expected for the Drake to go quite so far as to lock the door, let alone close them. He found it odd as he set down the bundle, but paid it no mind as he inserted the large key into the hole, gave it a hard turn, and unlocked the door.

The heavy bolts pulled back with hard thunks and the mechanisms inside the door began to crank, pulling the sides open and bathing the inside of the cell in the sun's incredibly bright light, but the moment the sun's rays hit the crimson hide of the dragon's skin, Taiga yelped and covered his eyes with his paws.

"Gah!... What the hell!" Taiga growled, shielding his eyes from the brightness that seared his pupils.

"Had to happen eventually, Taiga." Daiki said calmly as he stepped inside and walked right up to Taiga's head that lay on the dirt.

Taiga kept his paws over his eyes, but knew Daiki was close and it was confirmed when a pair of hands came down on his snout. Just like the previous night, their touch was soft, gentle and it helped to make the uneasiness of the daylight ebb away as those hands softly ran up and down his snout's length.

With a long exhale, Taiga closed his eyes and removed his paws, but the rays were still searing and glaringly bright through his eyelids. It made him grumble with discomfort and cringe, but when a cloth was placed over his eyes, browning out the sun's light enough to ease the sting, Taiga's eyes fluttered open. They just weren't used to seeing daylight and hadn't for a year.

"That better?" Daiki asked, softly rubbing the crown of Taiga's head and between his eyes.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah. I-I'm a little out of practice with daylight." His jowl twitched in a sad smirk.

"It's alright. We're gonna take it slow until your eyes adjust." Daiki said, still rubbing and easing the Drake's discomfort that he could feel in his muscles.

"You're early today." Taiga said, just laying his head down and staying still, his eyes blinking underneath the thin blanket that still allowed him to see Daiki's outline.

"I got impatient I guess." Daiki lightly shrugged, running his hand up towards the twin horns that sprouted from the crown of Taiga's head.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Taiga asked, flaring his nostrils as he exhaled.

"I didn't... Just wanted to see what my future would be... Hey, where'd the harness go?" Daiki asked, noticing that the leather harness was no longer on Taiga's head where he had left it.

"Off." Taiga said plainly and with a short point with a clawed finger towards the back corner of the cell.

Daiki followed the finger to see the harness laying discarded in the dirt, completely forgotten and not broken. It was strange that the buckles weren't even undone and it was almost as if Taiga had just somehow, slipped it off.

"Huh... Didn't know you could get it off by yourself." Daiki said a bit quietly.

Taiga half shrugged, "I'm that good."

Daiki smirked, "I guess so. You even managed to shut the door, but I'm not real sure how you managed to lock it." He said, his hand drifting up the long and curved horn where Taiga leaned into the touch a bit, still able to feel it, but just barely.

"I just closed it. One of those guards locked it a bit later, grumbling about how mad you'd be if I had gotten out." Taiga said with a huff.

Daiki nodded, "I would've killed him in all honesty." He smiled.

"Right." Taiga grunted.

The sun was blazing, but after awhile, Daiki slowly removed the blanket to expose Taiga's sensitive eyes, holding it up and using it to block off most of the sun's brightness. He watched the dark pupils fluctuate, but once they had settled into a pinpoint, he lowered the blanket and allowed Taiga's eyes to finish adjusting.

Taiga squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before blinking rapidly a few times, but it was enough to take on the brightness full force. Outside looked so different now that it was bathed in sunlight. The greens were so vivid, the blues were so bright that it was like a dream, a painting. He hadn't seen such beauty in so long and now that his eyes weren't burning inside his skull, he got to truly take it all in.

"Wow-" Taiga breathed out, raising his head to look outside over Daiki's head.

"I just hope the rest of what I've got planned is as easy." Daiki said as he stepped away and went for the bundle still resting on the ground by the door.

Taiga tilted his head, but said nothing as he watched Daiki pick up and unwrap the bundle, revealing a leather saddle with long straps and an array of buckles. He started to growl, but it soon faded away as Daiki unfurled it all to show him exactly what it was.

"Why in the hell did you bring that?" Taiga grumbled, lowering his head as he plucked the saddle up between his claws to get a closer look.

"Pretty much this. I wanted you to see it." Daiki said, crossing his arms as he watched Taiga examine the saddle by sitting up tall on his haunches and fiddling with it in both clawed paws.

Taiga glared at the contraption, "Why do I get this weird bondage vibe off this thing?" He asked, draping the straps over his paw as if he were playing with hair.

Daiki cringed as he rubbed the back of his head, "It's not like that, I swear. I just had it altered to fit you since you're bigger than most wyvrens." He recrossed his arms.

Taiga sat up straighter, "You did?... What for?" He asked, setting the saddle down and lowering back down to lay on his belly.

"Can't ride unless it's on, but relax... It won't go on unless you let it." Daiki said with a hand up in defense.

Taiga's lip curled, "I'm still not a fan of letting you on my back." He crossed his paws again.

"So you're gonna what... carry me in your hands?... Paws?... Feet? I don't really know what to call your front legs." Daiki winced at how dreadful he sounded to his own ears.

Taiga rolled his eyes, "They have thumbs don't they?" He held one up with its palm facing towards Daiki.

Daiki lowly laughed, but it soon faded as he studied the large crimson hand with its darker palm. It was large, the palm alone as big as his face and he was certain that the whole thing could curl around his head like his does a doorknob. He took a step forward, glancing up to meet Taiga's gaze before looking at his own hand. It always amazed him that a dragon's front feet were so close to his, no matter whether they were wyvren, or Drake. He lifted his own hand and looked back up to Taiga's eyes before placing it down against the Drake's palm.

Taiga lifted his head a bit more as he just watched, tilting his head a bit as Daiki studied it and how his stubby fingers moved. They were short, but they were still articulated like a Human's own fingers. Any dragon, in theory, could use them as hands, but without a mind to do so, they were merely paws. For Taiga however, they were hands.

Drawing in a deep breath, Taiga took his hand away and laid it back down, turning his attention back to the saddle resting on the dirt in front of him.

"It's been a year since I've flown." Taiga said as he picked up the saddle once more and offered it to Daiki.

"That's ok... You'll get there." Daiki said, holding out his arms as Taiga lowered the saddle down.

"Ugh... My dignity hurts... Alright, fine. I'll let you on my back." Taiga groaned, running a hand down his long face before lowering his head down in preparation for Daiki to put the saddle on.

Daiki stood up straighter, but his smile grew wider as he walked up to Taiga's strong shoulders and set the saddle down, settling it over the small spines that nestled right into the notches that the leatherworker had chiseled into the bottom side. He strapped the two main straps around the Drake's neck before running the rest over Taiga's form, having to ignore the grossly awkward sensation of having to coax Taiga to stand with a firm pat to the side of his belly. He crawled underneath with a pair of straps that ran all the way back to the base of his tail where he buckled a strap around its base to help keep the saddle in place. His blush never stopped, even when he had to run the next pair of long straps down Taiga's back to the tail strap before buckling the last pair around his shoulders which ensured the saddle wouldn't budge no matter how aggressively Taiga flew.

By the time he had finished buckling and strapping and settling the whole thing, the sun had moved up higher into the sky to nearly be directly overhead.

"Boy... Good thing I had those straps lengthened. You're what... thirty feet long?" Daiki blew out a long breath as he stepped back to get a better look.

"Thirty-five and a half and that's not including my tail." Taiga said, standing on all fours and looking back at himself with a tilted head.

Daiki's eyes opened wide, "Big boy... How's that feel?" He asked, folding his arms as he just stood back to give Taiga room.

"Odd... Mainly the straps down uh... down between my... uh legs." Taiga stuttered, rubbing the top of his head as he shook his backside to adjust the contraption a bit.

"Yeah... S-Sorry about that. I kinda had to get under there to buckle everything up." Daiki said with a soft tint of pink in his cheeks.

"I'm sure it's not as... weird with the other dragons." Taiga said with a soft clearing of his throat.

"Yeah... They don't give a shit since I'm not a female in heat." Daiki said, clearing his own throat to give him an excuse to cover his persistent blush.

"True-" he grumbled and shook his backside a bit more, "Ugh... The right one is chaffing against my... uh-" Taiga's voice trailed off.

"Knot?" Daiki dropped his face into his palm.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... It doesn't feel good." He looked over at Daiki with a mild cringe on his face.

Daiki held his breath, "I'll have to get back under there." He returned the cringe.

Taiga groaned, "Fine... Just fix it."

Ignoring his blush, Daiki walked up to Taiga's side and ducked down, crouched low as he worked his way back towards the Drake's tail. On any other dragon, he would be running his hand along its belly to let it know he was there, but with Taiga, he refrained, not wanting to get too personal more than they already were. Once between Taiga's back legs, he laid down on his back to get the best look at the straps, both of which were running a bit too close to the genital knot that hide the Drake's genitals. He actually shook with the idea that he was laying in such a place, but with a deep huff that blew air right into his face, Daiki snapped back to the task at hand.

"Sorry." Daiki mumbled as he reached up to try and adjust the straps.

"Don't enjoy the view. This is weird enough." Taiga grumbled, having turned his head around to watch Daiki work.

"Trust me... This isn't a picnic for me either." Daiki sneered, his brows furrowing a bit as the straps continued to encroach in on the knot.

Taiga's brow ridges drew down a bit as he watched, having to consciously resist the urge to shake to try and adjust them himself. They were uncomfortable as they kept sawing into his knot and unless Daiki could figure out how to keep them away, he wasn't going to put up with this.

His lip started to curl with growing irritation, but when a strap slipped from Daiki's hands and slapped into his hide, Taiga flopped his hand down onto his face and grumbled unintelligible words of irritation.

"Uh... Sorry." Daiki cringed as he resumed his work, pulling the strap aside once more to position it before adjusting the buckle.

"Good thing I'm armored down there... Shit." Taiga said, planting his hand back down to return to watching.

"Don't brag." Daiki smirked, shooting a sidelong glance Taiga's way.

Taiga just grumbled as he released a strong huff, blowing some dirt up into Daiki's face that forced him to close his eyes and look away, or risk getting the grit into them. He waited a minute for the dust to settle before returning to the task, but when he opened his eyes, his brain clicked with an idea.

"I think I know what to do. Can you reach that harness in the corner?" Daiki asked, looking down his chest to meet Taiga's gaze that had a split eye ridge popped up.

Taiga turned his head around to spot the harness before reaching out, his arm being plenty long enough to plant a claw down on a strap and drag it over.

"What're you gonna do?" Taiga asked as he put the harness within Daiki's reach.

"Gonna see if I can cannibalize it to get these straps away from your knot. I just gotta figure out how to run it without strapping it to your legs." Daiki said, sighing as he thought about how best to accomplish his task.

"You're getting too comfortable down there. Do you mind hurrying it up?" Taiga grumbled, his brow ridges pulling down.

"Well, what do you want me to do? Close my-" Daiki barked, having forgotten where he was laying as he shot up to glare.

In that moment, his head thunked hard into the genital knot that was as hard as a tree's trunk, and his whole head rattled like a bell from the hit. He instantly dropped back down with both hands holding his throbbing head and the string of curses that slipped out from between clenched teeth only served to make Taiga laugh even harder.

"Shut up! That's not funny!" Daiki hissed, pressing his hands even harder to stave off the thump.

"It's hilarious! You just rung your own bell on my junk!" Taiga laughed even louder, his mouth open with his deep guffaws.

Daiki glared and growled, but without any form of his own comeback to defend his honor with, he was left with listening to Taiga laugh about it. He just grumbled as he picked up the harness and started to study it, trying to put together his alteration in his head before starting. He knew what his end result needed to be, but how to get there seemed to be eluding him. He didn't want to strap them to his legs, but he couldn't add more straps to the buckled band, or he risked crowding his tail which served as a balancing weight when on wing.

However, that's when it hit him; He would use a single strap and loop it over Taiga's back to pull the straps apart and away from his genital knot.

Reaching down, Daiki pulled the dagger from its ankle sheath and began to cut the stitching along the harness to separate several straps and make himself a band with a loop in the center to slip it over the spine that would inevitably be in the way. He crawled out from underneath the Drake and stood, tossing the new strap over his back and pushing it down over the firm, yet flexible spine where it seated just like he had hoped. He didn't want to get back down on the dirt, but he knew he had to, so with a long blow of air, Daiki crawled back underneath and began to thread the new strap's end onto the belly straps to pull them apart.

"There... Is that better?" Daiki asked, taking one last moment to finish up before crawling out to freedom and dusting himself off.

Taiga shifted his whole body that was long and slender, shaking his backside to find that Daiki's on the fly alteration had worked. The belly straps were no longer chaffing against his genital knot and despite it still feeling odd with the whole saddle contraption along his entire form, he was much more comfortable.

"Yes... It'll do." Taiga said as he raised his head to stand like the proud dragon he should be.

"Good. Lets go for a walk to get you used to it." Daiki said with a motion with his head towards the open air.

As Daiki started to walk, it wasn't even a second later until his ears heard the heavy stomps of Taiga's feet as the Drake followed. He turned around to walk backwards, watching the way Taiga moved with his feet a bit wider than normal, not at all in a natural gate.

"Walk normally. Let it settle." Daiki said, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't going to walk into anything.

Taiga grumbled, but rolled his shoulders and straightened his gate, walking as if nothing was there, but it took a considerable effort to keep doing it the more he walked.

"It feels weird." Taiga whined, but he continued to walk as normally as he could.

"It's gonna. Quite whining and just walk. We've got six days to get you comfortable and back in the air." Daiki said, still walking backwards and studying the Drake.

"I know! Geez... Quite reminding me!" Taiga grumbled with a stern glare.

The more he walked, the more the saddle settled around his long body, each step helping to make it more comfortable, but it still felt weird to have such a contraption strapped to his form. They walked through the same meadow they had the previous night, but when Daiki spun around and broke out into a run, Taiga growled and curled his lip up at the thought of it.

"Hey!" He tried, but Daiki was taking off far too fast.

He stepped out his stride, each step getting further and further apart until he had broken out into a lazy canter like a very large, very ornery tiger. His wings were tucked in close as he ran, his tail swishing back and forth with each huge bound, but now that he was running, which felt completely euphoric, Taiga's discontent with being strapped into the thing began to fade away.

"There we go! Keep up!" Daiki roared back at the Drake, having to sprint with everything he had just to stay somewhat in front.

However, Taiga's much larger, much faster gate made him catch up in no time flat, but with his running and his eyes happy, Daiki took the distracted opening to risk it all.

As Taiga ran passed, Daiki lunged and grabbed the grip handle on the saddle like he had done a thousand times before. He jumped and swung his leg over Taiga's neck, coming to sit on the saddle all while Taiga ran. He seated his feet into the stirrups and clipped himself in with the belt straps around his waist onto the saddle's D rings where his movements fell perfectly into sync with Taiga's rolling strides.

For the first time in months, Daiki was riding a dragon.

"Fuck yes!" Daiki hollered, gripping a handle tightly as he pumped a fist into the air in victory.

"This isn't so bad! It settled nicely!" Taiga called back, still running and still relishing in the feel of the sun and heat against his smooth hide.

"I told you it would! Keep running! Next stop is the sky!" Daiki smiled wide as he ducked low, gripping the saddle to ensure he wasn't going anywhere.

"We can do it! I know we can!" Taiga howled, loosening his wings a bit in order to feel the rushing air over the leathery membrane.

"There's no rush! Take your time! In a couple of days, we'll head to the massive cliff to the west!" Daiki called out, patting Taiga's shoulder in the direction of the cliff.

Without a word, Taiga continued to run, but steered in that very direction, picking up his pace into a full gallop just to have more air rushing over his hide. It was so freeing, so energizing that he wanted more, no longer caring that he was strapped into a saddle with a Human, of all things, on his back. He had to admit, that if it wasn't for that man, he'd still be locked in the dark cell, still imprisoned like a caged animal. If it wasn't for Daiki, he'd still be alone to rot in the dark and if wasn't for Daiki, he'd be dead and someone's trophy.

The more he ran, the more his muscles felt alive, felt healed from a year's worth of confinement. He leaped high, spreading his wings wide to glide for quite a ways before touching back down without a break in his stride. He leaped again and again, each time spreading his wings and the closer the cliff got, the more Taiga's wings downbeat with the hopes of lifting off the ground.

"Taiga?... What're you doing?" Came Daiki's voice.

"We're gonna do it now!" Taiga yelped, his tone clearly aloof with excitement and genuine joy as he leaped again, forcing his wings down to work on waking up his stiff muscles.

"What? You haven't flown-" Daiki tried.

"We'll be fine! A Drake is different than a wyvren! Once a Human learns to walk, they never forget... A Drake is the same with flying!" Taiga called back without tearing his eyes away from the quickly approaching cliff.

Daiki's eyes shot wide at what was coming, but there was nothing he could do. If Taiga had been a wyvren, a mindless beast, sure, he could have halted his run, but that wasn't the case. Taiga was of his own mind and with that in mind, he checked the straps that were meant to keep him in the saddle, seated himself further down and hung on.

With the cliff's edge a single bound away, Taiga leaped with his wings spread wide and dove off, angling himself down to pick up huge speed. His legs were swept back against his long body and his tail trailed behind him, but just when he felt the wind feel right against his hide, everything changed.

Taiga bowled his huge wings and downbeat them hard, pulling him up and dropping the ground away just as fast as it had approached. In that long, lonely year, he had never forgotten the freeing sensation of being in the air, the way the air smelt differently as it rushed. It was fresher, cleaner, and the sound it made in his ears was like the most beautiful song he had ever heard. The previous night, he could have flown away, he knew he could have, but he stayed because he missed having a friend, someone he could trust and not lie about what he really was. He had gotten to do a lot of thinking over the week Daiki had been gone, and frankly, he had missed his visits, missed just having someone else to keep him company. It was something he missed so much, that he had had dreams about it, and he hadn't flown away that night because deep down, Taiga trusted Daiki and knew that both only had one way to go; Up.

"Woohoo! Hell yeah!" Daiki howled with a massive smile on his face at getting to be in the air after so many months.

"I told you! A Drake never forgets how to fly!" Taiga beamed, his teeth bared with his smile as his wings carried them through the sky.

For the first time in months, Daiki got to see the Crimson Kings's kingdom from the air. The castle was a gleaming beacon in a world that had the full potential to be a dark place, a place that people from all across the land could go to, to find safe harbor if one was willing to fight in order to defend it. The world didn't favor those whom preferred peace, being more than willing to trample them, but when it came to being a rider, very little could get to him from the air.

As Taiga leveled off to fly straight, Daiki sat up to admire the view, but he was too captivated by how Taiga looked while on wing. All the other times he had seen him, he had been curled up in his cell, so he hadn't been given a real chance to study his form. His wings were so much bigger than he had originally thought and he was so graceful that it was almost as if he was dancing while he flew. He had to admit that the Drake was quite striking, even with the small, healed scar that punched right through the stretched membrane of his wing.

"Got a little damage in that right wing. You gonna be alright?" Daiki asked as he patted Taiga's shoulder, earning a brief glance from the Drake as he turned his head just enough to see.

"Yeah... It'll be fine now that it's healed. When I got captured, I got nailed and it brought me down." Taiga said before looking back forwards and smoothly flapping his wings.

"By what?" Daiki asked, falling into a comfortable posture as he enjoyed the freeing air.

"Crossbow bolt... Your Captain fired it." Taiga said, briefly glancing back at his rider while he smoothly flapped his wings just to maintain their gentle cruise.

"He captured you?" Daiki asked with all the glee gone from his tone.

"Yeah... Well, he lead the squad that did. I was living out of a cave in the mountains north of here and they caught wind of it when the nearby farmer reported that a dragon was taking cows from his herd." Taiga said, smoothly banking left to head in that very direction as he leveled his wings to glide.

"Were you?" Daiki asked plainly.

"Yeah... I'd snag one a month, or so. He saw me one night and the very next morning, his son had left to report to the castle. Your Captain and a squad of riders showed up a couple weeks later and trapped me." Taiga briefly explained.

"I'm surprised they just didn't try to kill you." Daiki said as he leaned over enough to plant his elbows down and rest his head in hands.

"Oh, they tried, but after a couple failed attempts, they just captured me and carted me off." Taiga said with a snort.

"And you just played along huh?" Daiki asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Yup... I'd be dead otherwise. For a whole year, no one was the wiser until you showed up." Taiga said, beating his wings gently.

"You aren't gonna freak out come next week then are you?" Daiki asked, sitting up straight and placing his hands on the warm hide of Taiga's shoulders.

"Don't worry. I'll play the part. Can't guarantee I won't snarl at him though." Taiga huffed a smirk.

"Snarling is fine, just don't bite his head off." Daiki said with a firm pat to the Drake's shoulder.

"No promises."

The pair chuckled a bit at the thought of just throwing caution to the wind and ending the creepy man's reign, but both knew that he was their ticket to freedom and flame broiling him was most definitely not in their best interests. It was a pleasing thought nonetheless and it put smiles on both their face as they flew North, not caring about the time and just enjoying the air. Daiki had lost all sense as he just truly relaxed, allowing Taiga to have complete control, but when he felt the Drake slow and descend towards the ground, his brows furrowed with the sadness that it was over.

"You alright, Taiga?" Daiki asked, finally taking in that Taiga had made a huge loop and was lowering down to the ground at the cliff's edge.

"Yeah... Just tired. It's been a year remember?" Taiga snarked as his back feet touched down before his front.

"Right... Sorry about that." Daiki said as he removed the clips and dropped down to the ground.

Taiga shrugged and shook his wings out before tucking them in close to his body, "Whatever... So now what?" He asked as both started to walk.

"We keep training to build your stamina back up. You've only gotta put up with this for a week." Daiki said as his face dropped and he looked down at the grass.

"Just a week? But I thought you said that if we proved to your Captain that I'm not just gonna eat everybody, that we'll be given a mission." Taiga said, stopping and lifting his head in question at the Human.

"Well, yeah... I mean, if you stick around. Didn't I promise to set you free afterwards?" Daiki asked, his brows furrowing harder as he began to second guess himself.

"I don't remember that." Taiga smirked before starting to walk.

Daiki just stood there with a dumbstruck look on his face as Taiga walked passed him with a natural gate. He swore he had made that promise, was even willing to bet money on it, but that pang of uncertainty fluttered around in his gut anyways. He was certain he had promised to set Taiga free just as soon as his life was secured, but the way he had smirked and just kept on walking as if it didn't matter was more confusing than second guessing himself. He was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't going to need that job at Natalie's tavern after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Today was the day. They were to be at the training arena by the time the sun was directly overhead to prove that the dragon whom had been kept in the Hold had been tamed to some degree. For the week leading up to this very day, Daiki and Taiga had gone out to run and fly, building Taiga's strength back up so that he could maintain flight for long periods of time. Frankly, it had been an enjoyable week, but now there was no more time.

After having gotten to eat some breakfast, which was a basket of a dozen chickens that he had gotten to flame, Taiga stood out in the meadow while Daiki strapped the saddle and harness onto his body except that this time, there was an additional harness strapped onto his head and a set of reins that trailed down his neck. These, he very much, wasn't a fan of.

"Do you seriously need these?" Taiga whined as he picked at the head harness and reins.

"Stop picking at them!... And yes, or the Captain's gonna get suspicious. I've only been 'training you' for a couple of weeks. There hasn't been enough time to voice train, so put up with them." Daiki said firmly with a grunt as he adjust the tail strap before starting with the four body straps.

Taiga grumbled, "This sucks."

"Stop whining, will ya? This'll work, but you've gotta play the part." Daiki snorted as he shot the Drake a glance.

Taiga huffed out through his nostrils, "I'll play the part... Stop reminding me."

"I'll remind you as many times as I'd like. You forget my ass is on the line too." Daiki said, finishing with the back straps before buckling the belly straps.

"I know! Gods... I know. You've told me every day since we started this bullshit." Taiga grumbled as he ran a paw down his face.

Daiki smacked Taiga's haunch, "Behave!" He growled.

"Stop smacking me! I'm not a horse!" Taiga barked.

"Stop being an irritating whelp!" Daiki shot back.

"I'm not a whelp!"

"Whelp!"

Taiga growled, "Keep calling me that and I'll burn your ass so bad you won't be able to sit for the rest of your life."

Daiki glared, not even looking as he worked to finish the final strap, "Try it... I freaking dare you."

Taiga just curled his jowls to bare his teeth, but in the end, getting into a tussle with a Human whom was just as stubborn as he was wasn't the best of ideas. He rolled his eyes as he just let Daiki finish buckling and tightening everything up. It only took a few more minutes, but once all was said and done, he was as comfortable as he was going to get and Daiki was climbing up into the saddle.

"You're nervous aren't you." Daiki said after he had gotten settled and clipped into place.

"I'm about to be stared at like some prized stallion and if I fuck up, I'm dead. So yeah... I'm nervous." Taiga scoffed, curling his neck around to look at Daiki.

"We'll be fine. Just relax... I'm right here with you." Daiki said with a firm pat to the Drake's shoulder.

Taiga just nodded before looking back forward and starting to walk. They had quite a bit of time until they were supposed to arrive, so instead of flying, if at all to preserve Taiga's freshly returned strength, they decided to walk. It afforded Taiga some time to get into character as a mindless, instinctual dragon and he had even snorted and tugged against the reins in Daiki's hands when a group of horses had passed them by that were headed in the opposite direction. He was as ready as he was going to get and with a long huff that Daiki understood, they reached the main portcullis of town and passed through it.

Very few paid the pair any mind, save for some to comment that the dragon was a big boy and a noble looking beast. It had earned a few snorts and a soft growl, but Daiki, true to his role, had strongly smacked Taiga's shoulder to make it look as if he was commanding the beast to behave. It worked and many went on their way with smiles on their faces.

It wasn't until Daiki steered Taiga along the road passed The Dragon's Fyre, where Natalie stepped out with a huge smile on her older face and her hands on her hips that he stopped to kill that last little bit of time.

"Well would you look at that... Isn't that a magnificent sight." Natalie smiled as Daiki pulled back on the reins to bring Taiga to a halt and earned himself a snort and huffs of air.

"Thanks... It's been awhile." Daiki smiled crookedly.

"I wasn't talking about you." Natalie smirked, stepping down the stairs and starting to walk towards Taiga whom began to growl.

"Hey!... Knock it off. Natalie's good people so be nice." Daiki chastised with a firm smack to Taiga's shoulder.

Taiga's growl eased off to end in a snort as Natalie stepped up to his head, reaching up to grasp the rein and tugged his head down so she could get a good look at him. He obeyed with another huff of air as Natalie studied his eyes, his head and ran soft hands along his snout, and Taiga began to ease at the sensation that was just as gentle and soft as Daiki's had been. He softly groaned and rolled his head into Natalie's torso, figuring it best to play it off that he, in fact, enjoyed the soft touch, which wasn't all that far from the truth.

"He likes this doesn't he." Natalie softly laughed as she continued petting his large head.

"Oh yeah... As soon as I figured that out, things got a lot easier." Daiki said, this time patting Taiga's shoulder in praise that he understood.

"I bet... What did you name him?" Natalie asked with a brief glance up at Daiki.

"Just Buddy for right now till I come up with something better." Daiki lied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Natalie's smile broadened a bit wider, but it soon faded as she admired the dragon's eye. It shimmered with beautiful shades of red and gold, shifting and phasing more than perfectly polished armor. The black pupils were so deep, that she felt as if she was falling into them and were so expressive, so mysterious that they peered into her very soul.

"His eyes are beautiful... They remind me of a tiger's." Natalie said with another glance to meet Daiki's admiring gaze.

Daiki huffed a smile, "Yeah... You should see his temper." He airily laughed.

"Why not name him Tiger then?" She asked, firmly patting the dragon's snout with an affectionate smile on her face.

Daiki cleared his throat, "Yeah... Maybe. Hey, we've gotta get going, or we're gonna be late." He said.

"I'll let you go then, but one more thing." She said before reaching up to untie the silken scarf from around her neck.

All Daiki did was watch as Natalie slipped the scarf from around her neck and softly patted the dragon's left front leg, but he didn't move. He just watched and shook his head to adjust the bridle.

"Hey... Paw." Daiki ordered with a pat.

With a grunt, Taiga obeyed and lifted his left front leg where Natalie wrapped the scarf around his wrist. She made a couple of loops with it before tying it snug, still smiling and admiring the way the dragon carried himself. He was truly magnificent and when she patted his thick bicep, he lowered his foot back down adorned with the dark blue, silken scarf.

"Thanks, Nat... We'll see you later." Daiki said with a quick snap of the reins to spur Taiga forward.

"Good luck!" Natalie waved as they passed.

Daiki couldn't stop the smile as they continued on, but with the training arena not far away, he knew it was time to get serious. The arena was a wide open area, covered in soft sand and in an open field so that whatever fire was being discharged didn't set everything else on fire. It was large, plenty big enough for a dragon to show off a bit and as they drew closer, Taiga's crimson eyes set on the creepy Captain where he started to get uppity.

"Whoa whoa whoa!... Ease up there, Big Guy!" Daiki snapped, pulling back hard on the reins as Taiga began to toss his head and snort with aggression.

"Would you look at that... You actually did it." Imayoshi said with his trademark smirk in place as he crossed his arms.

"It wasn't easy, but yeah." Daiki said, still holding the reins tightly as Taiga snorted and growled.

"Still ornery though. Do something about that will you?" Imayoshi's smile died.

Taiga snapped his jaws as he growled and snorted, digging his claws into the dirt as he tried to gain his head's freedom so he could reach the man. Just the sight of him made his stomach churn and his throat boil with fire that he wished to unleash, but he refrained from doing so, if at all to keep them both alive.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Daiki roared with a hard snap of the end of the reins, slapping them against Taiga's hide that instantly made him flinch.

The harsh discipline made Taiga settle down, but it was just a show. He still despised the Captain, but wasn't willing to break their ruse. He planted his front feet and settled his growling, but huffed out a few more irritated puffs while Imayoshi walked towards them. The closer he got, the more Taiga wanted to snap, but with a great deal of willpower, he kept in character as the Captain stopped right next to him.

"So he can listen... Very good, Lieutenant Aomine... Very good indeed." Imayoshi near cooed as he studied the dragon's posture.

"Took some work, but we're getting there." Daiki said indifferently as he loosened his hold on the reins and knowing Taiga would behave.

"I see." Imayoshi said, tapping his chin with a long finger.

"Is His Majesty coming?" Daiki asked plainly.

"No... He's entrusted me with the task of judging whether, or not you've been successful. Shall we get started?" Imayoshi asked as he stepped back.

Daiki blew out a nervous breath, but nodded as he gathered up the reins once more and dug his heels into Taiga's shoulders, coaxing him forward into the arena that was round and very large. Several targets had been set up on the far side, being large stacks of hay that had been painted with bulls eyes. More targets had been prepared outside the arena in the large surrounding field, all lined up as if they were a series of ranks from an enemy army. He had seen the set up enough times to know that the Captain was intending on testing him and his dragon by having them flame the targets under Daiki's command.

"Hope this looks self explanatory." Daiki mumbled under his breath as he steered Taiga towards the twin poles that had been set up across the way from the targets in the arena.

With just a snort, Taiga tossed his head a few times, but Daiki understood it as a nod. He steered Taiga around back of the poles and pulled up on the reins, stopping him right between them with a firm pat of praise to his shoulder.

"Just relax... This'll be over fast if all goes well." Daiki whispered, still rubbing Taiga's shoulder as Imayoshi approached them.

However, Taiga said nothing as Imayoshi stopped next to them with his hands clasped behind his back and his trademark smirk in place that grated on everyone's nerves.

"You know the drill, Lieutenant. Flame the targets, then take to wing and lay down a suppressing line over the ranks in the training field. I'll be watching the entire time, so no funny business. Your dragon must listen to your every command." Imayoshi said with an aloof tone.

Daiki nodded, "Yes, Captain." He said.

"Begin whenever you're ready." Imayoshi sang as he walked away to give them room.

Daiki blew out his nervous breath as he let out the reins, but kept a firm grip on them to make it appear that he was still in control. Over the course of the week that they had trained and practiced and exercised, Daiki had told Taiga exactly what was going to happen and they had practiced exactly for it. Miles of dirt at the bottom of the canyon had been scorched black by all the flaming passes and fireballs shot from Taiga's mouth, and he knew, was positive, that they were ready. He trusted Taiga and he was just along for the ride.

With just a pat to Taiga's shoulder, he sucked in a huge lungful of air that gargled and hissed, filling his chest completely as his jowls peeled back. Daiki could already feel the heat beginning to boil in the Drake's throat and with a buffet that made him shield his face from the heat, three, rapidly fired fireballs left Taiga's mouth in a whoosh.

They screamed across the arena and smashed into the targets where they erupted into huge flames that blew the haybales apart to quickly burn on the ground from how dry they were. A small squad of young boys ran out with pails of water to douse the flames, putting out the wreckage before they could catch anything else on fire and all while Imayoshi clapped his hands.

"Now the ranks... Go!" Imayoshi ordered.

With a firm kick and a snap of the reins, mainly for show, Daiki spurred Taiga forward where he banked hard right and broke out into a run before downbeating his wings to lift off the ground. He soared and banked around, circling the established hay ranks before straightening out and sucking in another huge breath. Only a second passed before Taiga unleashed the stream of massive flames, setting the ranks of the evil haybales ablaze to burn to ash. He beat his wings to pull up and bank around, lining himself up with the second long line before unleashing another wave of hell, setting it all on fire to raise huge plumes of black smoke into the air.

It was only a minute before everything was on fire and burning while Taiga banked around and came to a soft landing in the grass next to the arena where Imayoshi's clapping could still be heard over the roaring burn of the flames.

"I must admit, Lieutenant... I'm impressed. I had thought this one was too wild to be tamed." Imayoshi said as he walked up, his hands returning to behind his back.

Daiki looped the reins around the handles before unclipping himself and sliding off, "He still is, but he's getting there."

"Clearly. I suppose it's time to assign you with your first assignment since being grounded." Imayoshi said, stopping a few paces away as he came under the gaze of the dragon still under Daiki's control.

Daiki sucked on his own lips to keep from yelping, "So I assume I've proved to your satisfaction that I'm worthy of being a rider?" He asked, patting Taiga's shoulder to settle his ultra low growl that only he could hear.

"I'm satisfied you won't be eaten, but time will tell. Take your dragon and head West to the Flameritter Forest. There's been reports of orc activity and His Majesty wishes to confirm them." Imayoshi said plainly and with no expression on his face.

"And if I make contact?" Daiki asked, his brows slightly drawn down.

"Bring plenty of seasonings."

Captain Imayoshi turned on his heel and left, leaving Daiki and his dragon just standing in the field as the flames burned behind them. Daiki wanted nothing more than to cheer and celebrate, but do so and being close to the castle with a Drake that nobody knew was a Drake, it was a bad idea.

He climbed back up into the saddle and clipped in just before Taiga downbeat and took to the air, but once they were up and away from the castle and the town, that was when they unleashed all their pent up energy.

"Fuck yeah, Taiga! That was awesome!" Daiki whooped as they flew, circling around and heading back in the direction of the Hold.

"That was way too easy. That's all it takes to prove you can be a rider?" Taiga asked, refraining from looking back in order to keep up appearances from below.

"He just wanted to make sure I tamed you, but I don't think he expected me to make it this far." Daiki said with a crooked smirk.

"Take what so far? All you did was ride and command." Taiga said with a scoff and mildly furrowed brow ridges.

"The multi-shot." Daiki said.

"That wasn't you, that was me. Is that gonna be a problem?" Taiga asked, his wings smoothly downbeating as he circled back around to where Daiki was loosely steering him; A large landing area where others were taking off and landing with their wyvrens.

"Shouldn't be. It doesn't take much to train a wyvren to do it." Daiki said as he just held on and made sure the reins were loose so that Taiga had full control of his head.

"So where to? West?" Taiga asked simply.

"No... Land just up ahead at the dragon stables. I'll park you outside, but be good while I head back and pack a few things." Daiki said as he patted Taiga's right shoulder and pointed to the large landing area outside the stables that were quickly approaching.

Taiga grumbled, "Still?" He near whined.

"I'll just be a few minutes, then we can leave." Daiki said with a huffed and crooked smirk.

Taiga smoothly flapped as he banked around and began to lower to the ground, coming to a gentle hover before touching down and shaking out his head just like all the other dragon's returning from their tasks. Daiki unclipped himself and unraveled the reins before sliding off before tying the reins to the post and tugging Taiga's head down so he could whisper to him.

"Keep up appearances. I'll be back as soon as I can." He said ultra lowly as he faked adjusting the bridle so no one around paid him any mind.

Taiga huffed to served as his answer before Daiki headed off, winding his way through town until he reached the rider's barracks. He grabbed an empty set of saddle bags from his bed post before opening his trunk and stuffing a few things inside, being a couple extra tunics, a pair of pants, some gold coins and a tightly rolled bedroll that he strapped to the outside. He closed his trunk and left, slinging the bags over his shoulder with the intention of stopping at The Dragon's Fyre to tell Natalie the good news, but just as he stepped up onto the stoop to head inside, a huge commotion erupted from outside the portcullis.

Daiki's brows furrowed as riders started to run passed and his ears immediately caught the telltale roars of aggression from two fighting dragons. He immediately started to worry and just as a young rider went running by, he grabbed his cloak and stopped him with a yank.

"Hey!... What's going on?" Daiki asked harshly as he released the boy near immediately.

"A dragon brawl. Someone took their rutted dragon out of their stall and he's fighting a big red one." The boy said as he ran off.

Daiki's eyes went wide, "Shit-" He breathed out.

Racked with worry, Daiki gripped his bags and tore off back towards the stables, pushing passed other riders in his hurry to return to Taiga. The roars and snarls grew louder the closer he got and when he turned the last corner, the whole scene unfolded before him.

Taiga was stuck, still tied to the strong post as an aggressive male wyvren was circling to attack, his wings up and and arched to make himself look bigger against the larger opponent. He had tossed his rider when they had drawn close to Taiga and with the wyvren clearly in rut and ready to fight for dominance, Taiga was stuck on the defensive.

As the male wyvren lunged to sink his teeth into anywhere in Taiga's flesh, Taiga skirted away to avoid the strike, all while snarling and snapping like a none rutted dragon simply looking to defend itself against the unprovoked attack. His larger wings beat down hard to shove the wyvren away, but with his head tied to the post, he couldn't put enough strength into it to stand up against the beast.

"Fuck!... Give me that!" Daiki hissed as he snatch a bow and arrow from another rider next to him.

Daiki took aim as he drew the bow, ready and waiting for the perfect shot. With two dragons in a fight, it was suicide to try and get between them. Every rider knew that, so instead of trying, they had all armed themselves with bows in case they had to use violence to end the violence. He watched as the wyvren lunged again, only to be shoved away when Taiga snapped his tail against its side, but once the wyvren was out of the way, Daiki released the arrow.

The shot screamed from the moment he let go, whizzing passed just under the wyvren's tail to split the reins keeping Taiga's head down and tied to the post. That very second, Taiga raised his head and entered the brawl in full force, clawing his front paws as he swiped it across the wyvren's chest with huge bared teeth. His claws sliced through the wyvren's wing that it had used as a shield to shed a spray of blood, making the aggressive male wail from the hit before lunging with snapping jaws. Taiga jumped back, but it hadn't been soon enough before the wyvren's jaws clamped down on his arm, sinking his teeth down where Taiga roared so loudly, that those watching flinched.

"T...Buddy!" Daiki yelped, unable to do anything else, but watch and nearly using the Drake's real name.

Taiga roared and reared up onto his hind legs before peeling his jowls back as far as they could go before biting down on the wyvren's neck. The returned attack made the male let go, releasing Taiga's arm where he tossed the wyvren with a throw of his head.

The beast hit the ground and rolled, plowing into a stable shed that was full of tools and bedding for the stalls. It instantly crumble beneath the weight as the male thrashed about to right himself, climbing up onto his legs and roaring back at Taiga whom was stalking towards him with his head low and teeth bared.

The wyvren roared once more before lunging, ignoring his wounds out of his desperation to gain victory, but Taiga was not only bigger, but stronger as well. He sucked in a huge breath that filled out his chest before unleashing a massive blast of flames that crashed into the wyvren, making it scream and writhe like someone who couldn't swim. The wyvren screamed and howled, falling back onto the crushed shed with his hide scorched black as Taiga's breathe waned and the flames withdrew, leaving behind wisps of smoke that drifted up as if from a freshly blown out candle. Taiga didn't stop however as he stomped forward, using his front legs to pin the clearly wounded and weakened wyvren as he snarled and roared down at the beast. His teeth were bared entirely, but as Daiki watched with horror clear on his face, Taiga struck and snatched up the wyvren's neck into his jaws once more.

With a loud crackling snap, Taiga twisted the wyvren's neck, snapping it clean and fatally as the wyvren instantly went limp. Its long tongue hung loose out of its mouth, but its snarling and breathing had stopped. Taiga had won, but not without the shedding of his own blood.

The brawl over, he roared with pain as it spiked, stepping back away from the dead beast with a limp, holding his front leg up as he quickly fell back into character. The bite hurt, was searing as his blood dripped off his hide and as he limped towards Daiki whom was rushing for him, he whimpered and huffed out a groan with the knowledge that the Human understood.

"Are you okay, Big Guy?" Daiki asked, being filled to overflowing levels with relief.

Instead of answering, which Taiga very much wanted to do, he simply huffed and whimpered a bit as he let Daiki inspect his wound. The bit marks were deep, but not so deep to warrant anything more than a good set of bandaging. The wyvren's teeth hadn't gotten a full grip due to Taiga's quick action, but as Daiki went to remove the scarf to use it as that bandage, Taiga grunted and pulled his arm away.

"I got it... We'll find something else." Daiki said lowly as the other riders rushed to douse the shed's flames and tend to the dead wyvren.

Taiga whimpered a bit more as he laid down, flaring his nostrils as he breathed through the pain and leaned his head into Daiki's arms. His hands rubbed along his snout, helping him to relax, but as he started to calm down, Daiki sprang into action in full form as the second in command of the 3rd rider division.

"Whose fucking dragon?" Daiki howled furiously, earning everyone's gaze whom froze and stared at him.

"M-Mine, Lieutenant." Said a meager looking boy whom was freshly set out into the field from dragon training and standing next to the dead beast.

"Get over here!" Daiki demanded.

The very frightened boy hesitated, but ultimately he obey the officer as he turned away from his dead dragon to report front and center, never once looking up from the ground.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why the fuck did you take out a dragon in rut?" Daiki roared loudly, only taking his eyes off the terrified boy long enough to see a pair of riders tending to Taiga's arm.

"I-I... I-I didn't know-"

"You didn't know? How the fuck do you not know? It's blatantly obvious!" Daiki snapped as he crossed his arms and stood up stick straight.

"I just... I didn't realize it, Sir. He behaved all day until he came close to your dragon." The boy said, unable to make eye contact.

"So you're blaming Buddy for this? I don't fucking think so! Get your ass to the Captain!... Now!" Daiki roared.

The boy wasted no time in scurrying off, leaving the rest to clean up and remove the dead body that lay burned and bleeding by the burnt shed. Daiki's rage ached in his chest, but it was soon over shadowed by his persistent worry for Taiga's well being. He turned around to see the pair of other riders working to clean the wound, and he could see in Taiga's eyes that he was holding back the hiss as they used alcohol soaked clothes on his hide. His angry eyes softened as he stepped up to him and placed his hands down on his head, returning to softly stroking his long snout and draping his arm over Taiga's head as he nudged into him.

"It's alright, Buddy... We'll get you patched up." Daiki said quietly as he ran his hand up and down Taiga's snout from between his eyes to his nose horn.

Taiga, for his part, just whimpered and groaned a bit as he nudged into Daiki's torso, trying with everything he had not to yelp, or flinch, or hiss from the harsh stinging, but he managed as they cleaned him up and tightly wrapped his arm with thick bandaging.

"You'll need to clean it once a day, Lieutenant. Do you need anything?" Asked one of the riders as he gathered up the soiled clothes.

"Just a bottle of the cleaning apothecary. I'm headed West this afternoon." Daiki said, his anger completely gone as Taiga lifted his head and huffed a bit.

The other rider just nodded as he handed the bottle to Daiki before they headed off, leaving him and his dragon in the middle of the carnage of where he had been forced to fight to defend himself. The wound was bandaged, sure, and from those on the outside looking in, everything was over, but as Daiki picked up his bags and put the bottle inside to strap them on the saddle still on Taiga's back, he could hear the irritated grumble vibrating in his throat.

Instead of trying to ease the Drake, Daiki removed the bridle with its severed reins and climbed up, clipping himself in as Taiga got to his feet. He stayed in character as Daiki steered him away from the carnage, but the moment they were clear, Taiga spread his wings and lifted into the air.

"Stupid wyvren... Fucking moron thinking he could take me... Look what it got him! Who takes out a rutted dragon like that!" Taiga growled angrily as he flew West, being high enough to be done acting like a mere beast.

"Man... I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone was that stupid." Daiki said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Taiga glanced back at him, "That fucking hurt... I hope you know that." He scoffed.

"I have no doubt... You did what you had to do though. I hope I wasn't too late." Daiki said as he rubbed Taiga's shoulder.

"No... He started his shit just before you got there. Thanks for cutting the reins." Taiga said blandly.

"Yeah... Geez... Wyvrens in rut are nasty, aren't they." Daiki said, huffing a crooked smirk with the hopes of perking up the mood.

"You try going up against one! If I had lost, he would've mounted me just to show dominance!" Taiga snapped, curling back a jowl with a cringe.

"I know! I've been a rider for years, so I'm well aware of what a rutted dragon does after winning a fight for dominance." Daiki said, throwing his hands up in defense as Taiga shot him an irritated glance.

Taiga bared his teeth, "Sorry for killing off one of your broodlings... I hope that won't count against me." He said, smoothly flapping his wings as he just flew with ease.

"You were defending yourself. It's not the first time we've lost a wyvren like that." Daiki said as he checked to ensure that his bags were still strapped in place.

"I see." Was all Taiga said.

As they flew through the bright blue sky, the sun heated their faces as they headed West, the wind cooling and helping to battle back the sun's harsh rays. It felt wonderful to be free, but there was still something that had been plaguing Daiki's mind ever since he had discovered what was truly trapped inside the Hold. He had been wanting to ask, but he wasn't sure how to without angering the Drake, but now that they seemed to have some sort of developing foundation, he felt like now, he could.

"Hey, Taiga... I've been wondering something-" Daiki began, only to have his voice trail off as he thought.

"What?" Taiga huffed as he held his wings out for a long, smooth glide.

"Why do Drakes and wyvrens look the same, but only Drakes are intelligent?" Daiki asked after a moment.

That earned him a quick glance as they passed over the familiar canyon, but continued on as Taiga beat his wings a few times to maintain his speed. It was slow and gentle, almost lazy, meant to be carried on all day if need be, and it afforded him time to answer.

"No one really knows, but there's an old legend that my broodmother used to tell me when I was a hatchling." Taiga finally said as he just stared ahead.

"I'm listening." Daiki said.

"Back before time had even been born, there was an Old God, a benevolent god whose only wish was to see the world roamed by beings of many faces. He created animals that flew and swam, and even walked, but he had always dreamed of creating something that was made of it all. He took the fire of the oldest volcano and put it together with the body of the earth, but he needed something to give it life; To give it form and meaning.

"Inside, this Old God put the heart of a Man, bringing the Drakes into the world, but this made Man jealous that the Old God was so willing to disregard them. To prove their worth to the Old God, Man set out to do the same. They gathered the fire from a furnace and the body of the same earth, but instead of the heart of a man, they put in the heart of a beast, resulting in the creation of the wyvrens." Taiga explained, his voice even and controlled as he told the ancient tale he had heard so many times before.

"So it's God versus Man." Daiki said, gripping the handles loosely since he had relaxed while they flew.

"Yeah... I mean, it's just an ancient story, but for as long as any of our elders could remember, the Drakes and wyvrens have always looked the same, but we're vastly different." Taiga said, returning back to the present from telling his story.

"I'd say obviously, but I'm the only one who knows." Daiki crookedly smirked.

Taiga's jowls pulled up in a dragon's smirk, "Yeah."

The pair fell silent as Taiga flew without trouble, only flapping when he needed to in order to stay airborne. The sun continued on its path across the sky, never deviating from it as it drew closer and closer to the Western horizon. Daiki had to squint in order to see, but when the sun dipped behind the much closer mountains due to Taiga beginning to descend, he snapped out of his mindless daze to realize that they had already reached the edge of the Flameritter Forest.

Taiga slowed to a gentle hover, beating his wings hard as he lowered the last little distance before touching down with a groan. His wings were tired, but giving them a shake and tucking them in close, he heard Daiki unclip himself and slide off the saddle.

"It's getting late... Wanna set up camp and start our search in the morning?" Daiki asked, rubbing his eyes to help them adjust to the new found darkness.

The Flameritter Forest was well known for being a densely packed gathering of massive trees and tightly woven canopy. It was racked with dangers from beasts the size of horses, to jagged rocks and sudden drops. It was a dangerous place, one that one usually avoided, which made it the perfect place if someone was looking to stage an attack against the Crimson Kingdom.

"Hey... Taiga... You listening?" Daiki asked, breaking the Drake free of his thoughts.

"Huh?... Oh, sorry." Taiga said, his head high as he scanned the tree line.

Daiki's brows furrowed, "What's wrong? You see something?" He asked, resting a hand on Taiga's shoulder.

Taiga didn't answer, but instead sucked in a long breath to smell the air, and laced beneath the wet mildew of a ground that never gets dry, was the rotten stench of unbathed skin and the iron of blood.

"Something's in there... It doesn't smell right." Taiga said, his crimson eyes with their large pupils narrowing as he continued to watch the dark treeline.

Daiki turned his attention to the trees, but he was at a massive disadvantage. He couldn't smell so acutely, could see through the dark nearly as well, so he was completely reliant on Taiga's ability to not only sense, but help fight if need be. He pursed his lips together as he reached up for the saddle, grabbing the handle of his sword that he pulled out in a single and smooth motion to hold at his side. He was ready if something was coming, but he'd rather have it ready and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

As Taiga started to growl, Daiki's whole body tensed, but that's when his own nose picked up the all too familiar stench of orc. It made his nose crinkle, but that was all he had time to do before Taiga began to step back with fear in his deep crimson eyes.

"Taiga?... What's wrong? What's going on?" Daiki asked, his brows furrowed as he watched the Drake bare his teeth and snarl angrily, continuing to back-step away from the treeline.

He was stuck watching, his lips parting as Taiga began to snap his jaws and grunt, spreading his wings to make himself look even larger, but when his ears started to pick up that familiar snarl of a worg, he looked back towards the forest to see an approaching pack and all of them carried an orc.

"Don't come any closer!" Daiki demanded as he brought his sword up to defend himself, stepping back towards Taiga whom was still snarling and stepping away.

"Hoo-man... dragon... die." The lead orc said from the largest worg, a huge beast with wild eyes and teeth as long as Daiki's finger.

"Flame 'em, Taiga!" Daiki snapped with a crooked grin.

However, Taiga only reared up and roared, nearly falling over as he tried stepping back on just his hind legs. His eyes were wide with terror, and he was acting more like he was terrified than looking to ward them off with size and intimidation.

"Taiga!... What the hell is wrong with you!" Daiki snapped, beginning to have panic build in his chest.

The steady creak of wagon wheels drew Daiki's attention as a catapult emerged from the trees, being pulled along by a team of three more large worgs. Taiga's snorts and growls got even worse, and instead of standing his ground, Daiki wheeled around and ran to him.

As Taiga planted his front feet, Daiki grabbed the handle on the saddle and swung himself up, sheathing his sword and placing his hands on the panicked Drake's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down, but it didn't work.

"Taiga!... Just fire!" Daiki snapped with a hard smack, hoping to get Taiga's attention.

"Get 'em away from me!... Get 'em away from me!" Taiga screamed, still backing up and rearing so badly that Daiki was nearly thrown off.

"Get what away from you? They're just orcs! Kill 'em!" He snapped.

Daiki's panic reached its peak when an orc carrying a torch lit the tar ball seated in the catapult's launcher, instantly setting it ablaze with smoke and heat. There was no more time to try and calm Taiga down as he reared and took off, lifting off the ground with the full intention of running, but the orc released the flaming catapult, launching the tar ball at them and all Daiki had time to do was watch with horror as it reached them and smashed into Taiga's side.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

All he smelt was sulfur, tar and ash; The burnt scent that a long forgotten campfire gives off once someone wakes in the morning. It stung every time he drew in a breath and as he opened his eyes, his head flashed with what had happened.

Taiga had tried to fly away, panicking and filled with terror, but at what, Daiki had no idea. He didn't understand why Taiga was so scared, but it was apparently enough to cause him to flee. He took to the air with frantic desperation to get away, and he had flapped his wings so hard in his panic that they were already hundreds of feet off the ground by the time the flaming tar ball had reached them.

It had smashed into Taiga's side and knocked them from the sky, tumbling hard amidst a cloud of smoke, flaming tar and debris. He didn't remember much after that, but as he fully opened his eyes and sat up, Daiki saw that he was laying in a crater, surrounded by smoking bits and charred dirt.

"W-What the-... How am I alive?" Daiki asked himself as he pressed his hand into his head from a strong throb.

He cringed from the pain, but he didn't have time to look himself over as he realized that Taiga was no where to be seen. His gut churned with despair that the orcs had taken him, but if that had been the case, he would have been dead. It made no sense, so as he climbed to his feet, he started to look around.

The crater wasn't very deep, being just enough to hide that he was there unless someone stood at its rim and looked in. Everything was charred black except a large patch that surrounded him, but its shape was too obscured to make out. He couldn't tell if it was Taiga, or something else, but he had clearly been shielded from the flaming tar. It was confusing, but when his eyes set on what remained of the saddle and straps that had been on Taiga, being burnt and discarded, Daiki's eyes started to sting, not from smoke, but from tears.

"T-Taiga?" He coughed, his throat raspy from the smoke as he climbed out of the crater.

When he reached uncharred ground, he looked around to see that they had landed hard under the tight canopy of the Flameritter Forest, surrounded by ancient trees and long, snarling vines. His head throbbed again, making him wince as he pressed his hand into his forehead, only then feeling the warm slickness from blood that had begun to dry on his skin. He had been out for some time, but for how long, he didn't know. All he cared about was finding Taiga, but where to start looking was a whole different matter.

"Taiga!" Daiki called out, his voice falling dead from all the lush vegetation surrounding him.

The only answer he got was some rustling as whatever critters took off from the sudden yell, but there was no reply. He looked around the dense trees with the hopes of seeing some clue of where Taiga had gone, but in the deep shadows of the fallen night, it made it very hard to see. He skidded back down into the crater and rummaged around the dirt near the ruined saddle, finding his bags untouched, but somewhat charred. The belongings inside were alright, so he unstrapped them from the remains of the saddle and slung them over a shoulder before climbing back out and looking around.

"Taiga!... Where are you!" Daiki called out once more, still hoping and still listening for someone to answer his calls.

Again, there was nothing as he started to walk, peering down through the darkness with the hopes of seeing a footprint, or a drop of blood, but it was just too dark. He needed light, something, anything to push back the shadows, so as he walked up to a broken branch, be picked it up and wrapped one of his spare tunics around an end before touching it down to a still smoldering patch of burning tar.

The fire instantly blazed, illuminating the forest in bright orange and allowing him to see. It wasn't just the crater that was charred, but everything else around it as well, burning away vegetation and even smoking the leaves of the destroyed canopy high overhead. He had missed something while he was unconscious, but what, he could only guess.

He used the light to get a better look around, looking at the ground and tree trunks in his search for any sign, but when his stinging eyes settled on a large footprint in the damp ground, pointed away from the crater, he began to see the path.

"Taiga-... Please be okay, Buddy. I'm coming." Daiki said to himself as he started off in the direction of the footprint.

The torch's light helped to fight back the darkness, giving him a bubble of safety to stave off whatever was going bump in the night that was hidden in the trees. He slowed at each footprint to inspect them, making sure they were still firmly planted, but the ones on the left side of Taiga's gate were far heavier, telling him that the Drake was limping.

"You're hurt... Hang in there, Big Guy." Daiki said quietly before pressing on.

He continued, pushing aside low hanging branches and ducking under others, but once on the other side of a particularly high arced root, the fire's light settled on a wet puddle next to the footprints that was far too dark to be water. He stopped and knelt down, dipping his fingers into the puddle and lifted them to the light, revealing the liquid to be blood. Daiki's heart started to thump at the thought, but just kneeling there staring at it wouldn't help his friend. He needed to find Taiga and soon, before something else did.

Ignoring his own worry, Daiki pressed on, walking further and deeper into the forest as he kept his eyes on the tracks. Branches were broken from being snapped by body weight, but they were becoming too few and far between to provide a definite path for him to follow. He was starting to wonder if he was following the tracks of something else, as after a ways, the prints started to get smaller until they were no larger than his own feet.

"Wait a second... A Human foot?" Daiki breathed out through mild pants, kneeling down to light the strange print better.

His eyes weren't playing tricks, as the path he had been following had started out with a dragon's prints, but now, somehow, they were Human and barefoot. Five toes were clearly visible, with most of the weight carried on the ball and the left side was still deeper than the right. Daiki had no idea what was going on, but with the need, the desperation to find Taiga, he ignored it to keep going with the thought that perhaps, a band of savage Humans had captured him and carted him off.

He walked passed more blood and more strange footprints, walking over, under and around more trees than he had ever seen, but as he reached the top of a steep ravine, the trees parted to afford him a better view. He scanned the more open area, looking down the ravine and having to squint to see through the darkness the torch couldn't touch, but that's when he saw it; A strange form laying motionless at the bottom, next to a small river.

"Taiga?... Taiga! You there?" Daiki called out, but again, he was met with no answer.

He gulped as he looked for the best way down, seeing the path the form had taken and judging by the way the edge of the ravine was crumbled, he didn't need to guess that they had fallen. Small trees had been broken along the way so as he gripped the torch tightly, he used his other hand to carefully work his way down the ravine by gripping long vines that hung from the trees.

It took some time, but eventually, he reached the bottom and started for the form, realizing that it was far too pale and far too small to be Taiga. His heart dropped as he realized it wasn't his Drake, but perhaps this Human had seen Taiga. He steeled his resolve and kept going towards them, but he froze dead in his tracks, next to the river, when the light revealed a man, entirely nude and with dirty, two toned crimson hair that was shaggy and touched his ears.

"Hell of a place to take a nap." Daiki scoffed as he walked towards the man, using his hand to dig a hole to plant the torch in order to free up both of his hands.

With the torch set, he knelt down next to the man and looked him over. He was laying on his side with his back facing him, half propped against the embankment. His skin was paler than his, being softly tanned and stretched over a tall form comprised of nothing, but muscle. Whomever this man was, he was incredibly strong, but that meant little to him as he noticed the angry burn and bleeding wound cut deep into the man's right thigh.

He reached up and untied his cloak to slip it off and lay it over the nude and injured man before carefully rolling him onto his back to get a look at his face. He was young really, no older than he was. He had never seen this man before, but just by looking at him he knew this man was no savage. Instead of trying to figure it out, he reached over and brushed a clump of the man's dirty crimson hair from his face to get a better look at him, revealing sharp features and slightly parted lips that drew in breath.

"Hey, Guy... You alright?... You happen to see a dragon come through here?" Daiki asked, gently tapping the man's cheek to try and wake him.

The man's breath started to stutter, but his eyes didn't open, only fluttered beneath his lids. His whole body was dirt covered and smudged with blood, but Daiki's breath caught hard in his throat when he saw the man's left arm.

It was wrapped with a silken blue scarf.

"You asshole-" he breathed, "You stole it! Where's Taiga! Where's my dragon!" Daiki snapped with sudden rage, slamming a white knuckled fist into the man's cheek with his fury that the man had hurt Taiga.

The man groaned, but the only thing he did was loll his head to the side from the strike. His face was contorted into a pained grimace, but the hard hit did little to wake him.

"Wake the fuck up! What did you do to Taiga! Where is he!" Daiki screamed, his voice cracking as he grabbed the man's head and shook him.

"D-D-D-Daiki-" The man's breath left his lungs with only enough power to form a single word.

Daiki held his breath from shock, his eyes wide as he stared at the strange man. He didn't know this man at all, had never seen him before, but for some reason, he just uttered his name. His eyes angered as his brows furrowed once more, his teeth grit together as he raised his fist again to hit the man, but he froze when he saw the familiar scarring that peaked out from the man's side.

Daiki pulled the cloak down to the man's hips, keeping him covered as he gently rolled him over onto his left side to expose a portion of his back. The light of the torch glimmered off the man's skin, revealing a long line of squiggly scars that he had seen before.

"Pyro-whelp." Daiki exhaled, trailing his fingertips over the scars that were lighter, but still visible.

His heart started to hammer as he laid the man back down onto his back and going to the river, he cupped a large handful of water and poured it over the man's torso. He hurriedly washed away the dirt to somewhat cleaned skin, where he examined his chiseled and toned belly, spotting a jagged cross shaped scar cut into his abdomen.

"H-Halberd." Daiki mumbled, his breath starting to shake as it left his lungs in time with his thundering heart.

This couldn't be true, couldn't be real. There was no way and in his desperation to prove himself wrong, Daiki rushed to remove the blue silken scarf from around the man's arm. He tore it off and set it aside before unwrapping the loose bandaging, giving up halfway through in favor of just pushing it aside. He held his breath, hoping there would be nothing there because he didn't think he could take it if there was, but much to his dismay, what was hidden beneath the dirty bandages, was a still angry wyvren bite.

"Oh my gods-... T-Taiga?" Daiki managed to choke out as he fell back to crawl away, unsure if he truly was dead and this was a nightmare.

He refused to believe his eyes, refused to just accept it. He rubbed them, thinking that when he took his hands away, there wouldn't be a man laying there, but a Drake instead. He was desperate for that to be the case, but when he dropped his hands, nothing had changed. The man still laid, half covered by his cloak and covered from head to toe in dirt. He couldn't think, could barely speak, and his heart was beating so hard and so fast that he was starting to get lightheaded.

He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes as he forced himself to calm down, sitting on his bum several feet away. He needed to calm down, or he risked passing out and with the man's injuries still raw and fresh, he needed to ignore what was happening and act.

After several minutes, Daiki finally calmed down and sprang into action, rushing for his bags to pull out some fresh rolls of bandaging, the bottle of alcohol and the change of clothes he had packed. He grabbed the tunic and crawled to the river and dunked it, completely soaking it before going back to the man's side and ringing out all the water with a splash. He rubbed the dirt from the man's skin, cleaning his face, his arms, paying particular attention to the bite to clean the wounds. He cleaned his hands with their dirty nails before cleaning off one leg at a time, keeping him covered before he rolled the man onto his left side to keep the burn out of the dirt.

"I need fire... Stay put, Buddy." Daiki said, sucking in a huge breath as he set aside the soiled tunic.

He climbed up the embankment just enough to grab some of the broken tree branches that the man snapped on his tumble down, managing to gather a full armload before sliding back down to the river's bank and setting them up for a campfire. He used the torch to light them, but it took several minutes for the wood to catch that crackled and sizzled from the moisture still inside. They began to burn bright, lighting the area for Daiki to unstrap his bedroll and shake it off before laying it down and carefully, dragging the man over to it.

The warmth from the fire began to finally ebb away the man's shivers, his teeth lightly chattering from the chill the river's water had caused. Daiki covered him with the cloak, but kept his right leg exposed as he worked to clean the burn with the alcohol. Every time the cloth had touched down, the man hissed, but he had yet to open his eyes, instead softly groaning and wincing while he worked. Daiki tried to make sense of it all, but he was having trouble focusing on what was going on and without someone to ask, mainly the unconscious man, his questions would have to wait.

With the burn cleaned and wrapped with a roll of bandages, and the man's left arm cared for, Daiki cleaned off his hands in the river before splashing some water onto his face. The sharp chill of the water helped to clear his head, as his face was hot from all the confusion. He didn't understand, but for some massive strange reason, this man had the exact same scars in the exact same places as Taiga did. He still wanted to disbelieve it, but the more he watched the man, the more it was becoming clear that he couldn't.

The night was clear as Daiki sat down across the fire from the man as he rested, just watching and not thinking of anything. He had no hope of figuring things out, so he just stayed vigilant in case something tried to sneak up on them. The only sound he could hear was the rush of the river, so his eyes blindly watched the man he was beginning to think was Taiga.

He had sat for hours just watching, just listening to the man's pained whines until his own eyes started to droop. He was so tired, so exhausted and all he wanted to do was sleep, until his ears caught that single word that had started all of his confusion.

"D-Daiki?"

His eyes snapped open at his name, immediately setting on the man whose eyes were lazily fluttering open to reveal blurry, yet familiar crimson that sucked Daiki's breath away.

"T-Taiga?" He managed to say as he rolled onto all fours and crawled to the man's side.

The man nodded, "Y-Yeah." He exhaled, his head lolling to face him, setting him within that blurry crimson gaze.

"I-I don't understand. What magic is this?" Daiki asked, gulping down his returning confusion as he sat down by his side.

"I-It's mine." Taiga breathed out, swallowing and cringing at the dryness in his throat as he slowly blinked his half open eyes.

"What do you mean?... Could you have done this the whole time?" Daiki asked, his brows furrowing as he struggled to keep himself calm.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He said, his eyes getting far too heavy with moisture as he looked up towards the sky.

"Why didn't you just leave then? Why stay locked up for a whole year if you could escape the entire time?" Daiki asked, getting angrier by the second and unable to close his mouth from his absolutely shock.

"What would that have accomplished? Getting chased by your captain again, only this time, to be killed?... I'm tired of hiding, Daiki." Taiga said, his breathing stuttering as he lightly shivered.

Daiki forced his mouth closed as he tugged the cloak up a bit to cover Taiga's chest, "Why take this form now?" He tucked the sides beneath Taiga's arms to wrap him up.

"I had to, or the orcs would've killed us." Taiga said, his voice scratchy and broken as he shifted his gaze back to meet his.

"What happened?... I don't remember." Daiki near whispered.

"After I got hit with the first ball, I tossed you to keep you from getting hurt, but your head hit mine and knocked you out. I caught you when you fell just before we crashed through the canopy, but I flipped over so I hit first. The tar had stuck to my leg and it wouldn't stop burning, so I flamed it myself, but that's when I saw the other ball coming at us. I covered you to protect you, before leading the orcs away and they followed me until they lost sight. That's when I took this form, but then... I fell down that ravine when I tripped and I've been here ever since." Taiga explained as a tear sprung free when he blinked.

Daiki's chest hurt, "You've just been waiting to die, haven't you."

Taiga nodded, "I didn't think you'd come looking for me. I thought you'd just assume I was gone." He said quietly.

Daiki shook his head, "No... I wasn't gonna just leave you for dead... You saved my life, Taiga... I owed you." He admitted, hesitating a moment before reaching up to push a damp lock of Taiga's hair off his forehead.

"You didn't owe me anything... I freaked out and ran instead of doing what you expected of me." Taiga said, his teeth finally stopping their chattering as the fire worked to warm him up.

"Why did you get so scared? You were terrified." Daiki said lowly, picking up the drying tunic he had used to clean Taiga up with to scrub off some lingering dirt along his hairline.

"It was the worgs... I hate the worgs... I'm terrified of them." Taiga admitted with a crack in his voice as he just laid there while Daiki worked.

"Why?... They're just oversized dogs." Daiki said, moving his attention to a smudge along Taiga's neck.

Taiga's bottom lip started to quiver, "It was the worgs that came first when I was a hatchling... They sniffed us out and attacked us... Tearing apart my broodmates while the Humans fought my broodmother... It was the worgs that chased me out when they found us... I hate the worgs." He started to cry.

The pain in Daiki's chest spiked, "Taiga... I didn't know-"

"There was no way for you to know... I didn't tell you because... because it's my burden. I didn't think you'd stick around." Taiga interrupted, sucking in a deep breath to settle his sobs.

"Taiga... That's my line... I thought you'd take off that night." Daiki said, setting the tunic turned rag down, now that he didn't see anymore smudges that needed to be cleaned.

Taiga shrugged, "And go where?"

Daiki just stayed silent as he shook his head, as he genuinely didn't know. If Taiga had felt that escaping would just bring about more of the same, and decided to stay, than staying even though he could have so easily left made sense. Taiga had spent two hundred years hiding, playing it off like he was just another animal to be caught, and he was finding that he couldn't blame him for his decisions. He wouldn't.

"I'm cold, Daiki... Not that dying kind of cold, just... cold." Taiga huffed a sad sounding laugh as the layer of gooseflesh along his shoulders came under Daiki's scrutiny.

"Can you sit up?" Daiki asked, being answered with a nod.

Slipping his arm beneath Taiga's shoulders, he helped his friend to sit up, hissing through clenched teeth and wincing from the pain that rattled through his entire body. His arm hurt, but it was his right thigh that screamed with a searing hot fire.

"Easy, Buddy... Take your time." Daiki said, keeping his arm where it was to help support Taiga.

Taiga nodded, "It just hurts is all... I'll be alright." He said, planting his hands down which let the cloak fall from his strong chest.

"It's a good sign that it hurts." Daiki said, knowing full well how to care for such a burn.

"I know... It'll heal." Taiga said, heavily leaning on one hand to dry his eyes with the other.

Daiki nodded before reaching over to his bag and dragging it over, rummaging through the last few things before pulling out his spare pair of pants. They weren't anything special, being made of cloth with a drawstring top, but when he held them out for Taiga, he managed to produce a lopsided smile.

"Here... I don't have any extra shirts, but-" His voice trailed off as Taiga took the pants.

"Thanks." Taiga said softy as he just rested the pants in his cloak covered lap.

"You alright?" Daiki asked when Taiga made no move to put them on.

Taiga avoided his gaze by looking over at the river, "I uh... Could you help me? I can't really lift myself and pull them up at the same time." He cringed as he gently rested a hand down on his bandaged right thigh.

Daiki's cheeks started to feel hot, "S-Sure."

He took the pants from Taiga's lap and scooted to where his feet were still covered by the cloak, pushing it aside before unfurling the pants and slipping them on. He made a considerable effort not to look up when Taiga fully removed the cloak, leaning back on his hands to help support himself as Daiki tugged with one hand and helped to raise his legs with his other. He had to take extra time to make sure that the pants didn't rub up against the sensitive burn, and that did help to settle the burn in his cheeks that he was helping another man get his pants on.

It wasn't until it was time to get the pants around Taiga's rump that Daiki had to look up, widening his stance on his knees while Taiga draped an arm over his shoulders. He wrapped his arm around Taiga's back where mildly flinched before lifting him up, tugging the pants up with Taiga's help until they were finally at his hips and making him mostly decent.

"Thanks." Taiga grimaced as he settled himself back down and tied the drawstring to keep the pants up.

"Sure... Keep the cloak." Daiki said as he handed it back to him.

Taiga huffed a smile that only lasted a moment before looking down at his left arm, only seeing the new bandaging that kept his bite covered and safe.

"Where is it?" He asked, his heart started to thump harder as he looked around.

"Where's what?" Daiki asked as Taiga frantically snatched the saddle bags from the ground to look through them before just tossing them aside.

He couldn't find it and started to panic, but when he tried to push himself onto his knees to crawl, Daiki gripped his shoulders and pushed him back down.

"Whoa... Easy... What're you looking for?" Daiki asked, noticing that Taiga was breathing just a bit more heavily.

"My scarf... Where's my scarf?" Taiga asked with a hard swallow, reaching up to grab Daiki's wrist with worried crimson eyes.

"Oh... Um... Here." Daiki said as he turned around.

Taiga's heart thumped hard as Daiki turned around and picked something up from laying along a log that he had apparently dragged over, being the blue silken scarf that the woman named Natalie had tied to his wrist. He had never received a gift of any kind in his 230 years, and to have that woman just give it to him without a second thought because she was kind made it one of the most precious things in his life. He wanted his scarf, needed to keep it near because it helped him to feel safe.

"It was um... It got dirty, so I cleaned it. It was drying." Daiki said a bit awkwardly as he folded it.

Before Daiki could even finish, Taiga snatched it from his hands and held it to his chest, taking a deep inhale of the cloth. He wasn't angry that Daiki had washed it, in fact, he was thrilled because it was clean and as he wrapped it back around his arm, he finally started to feel calm from being in a form he hated.

"Natalie used to be a rider." Daiki said suddenly, earning Taiga's gaze as he finished tying the scarf to his arm.

"She did?" Taiga asked, arcing a brow that was remarkably split, just like his eye ridges when in his natural form.

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... That was about ten years ago." He said, tucking his knees into his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

"Why'd she stop?" Taiga asked, softly wincing as he adjusted himself on the bedroll to sit more comfortably.

"She broke her back... Well, had it broken. She almost got crushed when a rutted male attacked her female. It's why I'm so hard on people who're careless about bringing out a rutted wyvren." Daiki said without going into detail because frankly, he didn't want to.

"So that's why you're not pissed that I killed that one earlier." Taiga said, blowing a long breath as he scrubbed his hair.

Daiki nodded, "Exactly. There's no place for that kind of carelessness." He said with a sigh.

"How can she still walk?" Taiga asked, not wanting the sounds of the forest to creep in around them.

Daiki just turned his head to stare at the fire, "She goes to an apothecary once a month for a black listed brew. It's expensive, but it works and allows her to keep the tavern."

"And you keep it to yourself because you care for her." Taiga said plainly.

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... She's a mentor; A teacher. She taught me to ride and how to read a dragon; How to get into their heads. It's how I knew you were different."

Taiga leaned back on his hands, "Two hundred years of fooling people and then you come along." He smirked with a dull laugh.

Daiki crookedly smiled, "Yeah... I'm glad you're okay, Taiga." He said, turning his face back to meet his gaze.

"I guess now we're even. A life for a life." Taiga said.

"I guess... How long you stuck like that?" Daiki asked, motioning with his chin towards Taiga.

Taiga shrugged, "Depends on how long it takes me to recover my power. I can't shift back and forth on the fly and I've done it twice in a week... I'm spent."

"Why?" Daiki asked.

"I'm only 230 years old... I'm a baby in comparison. My power is a fraction of what our elders could do." Taiga said, staying as still as possible so not to agitate the pain in his thigh.

"Could they stay like that indefinitely?" Daiki asked, finding that he was far more curious now, than confused.

Taiga nodded, "We all can, but they could shift back and forth as many times as they want. I don't know how long it's gonna take to recover enough power to shift back. I try not to take this form." He scoffed as he began to gnaw on the inside of his bottom lip.

"Wait... Why? I don't understand." Daiki said with a mild furrowing in his brows as he rested his chin on his knees.

"When I ran, I told myself I would never take on the form of something I hated so much, but I did... because one of them proved me wrong." Taiga said, his tone vacant of any disdain that Daiki had heard from previous conversations.

"I only came to you because I thought you were a wyvren." Daiki said as he picked up his head, his face adorned with a lopsided smirk.

Taiga rolled his eyes, "At least you're honest, you bastard."

Daiki wasn't even phased, "Blow hard."

"Prick." Taiga shot back.

"Asshole."

"Dick sucker."

Daiki flipped him off, "Flame breath."

Taiga laughed, "Thank you."

The pair began to laugh as the fire burned low, spurring Daiki to climb to his feet to gather some more wood while Taiga rested on the bedroll. He couldn't really move, but at least the pain was subsiding and the alcohol apothecary that he had brought seemed to be working. His wounds felt cleaner, and the harsh sting that he had felt, despite hurting to high hell, had ebbed away to leave behind a soft tingle that numbed the pain.

As Daiki gathered the wood just at the edge of the fire light, Taiga turned his attention to the fire, which was small and more than a bit sad. It wasn't putting off nearly enough heat for his thinner skin, but even though he looked, talked and walked like a Human, there was still a fire in his gut that could not be doused.

Sucking in a hissing breath, Taiga opened his mouth a blew a much smaller, yet still white hot jet of fire onto the coals, igniting what wood remained. It instantly light up the area, but coming from a much smaller being with much smaller lungs, Taiga wasn't able to maintain the flame for nearly as long as he could when in his natural form.

"You can still breathe fire?" Daiki yelped with shock, having stopped his task to watch him.

Taiga hiccuped, puffing out a stray wisp of flame that near instantly winked out, "Yeah... Just because I look like a Human, doesn't mean I can't breathe fire. Can still roar too." He smirked with a bit of pride.

"Nice... That'll come in handy." Daiki said as he started to scoop up his load of twigs and severed branches.

"Lets hope not." Taiga said, his smile gone as he rubbed his upper arm.

His arms full, Daiki walked back to their camp and knelt down, placing several of the new chunks onto the fire to keep it going.

"I'll need to head out and find something to eat here soon. I didn't have enough time to get some rations from Nat before all that crap started back in town." Daiki said with a few stokes of the fire.

"Please don't."

Hearing what almost sounded like a plea, Daiki looked up from the fire to see Taiga's saddened eyes, almost looking worried at the idea of being left alone again.

"We're gonna need food, Taiga." Daiki said before scooting around the fire to sit next to him.

"I know... I'll be fine to walk in the morning and we can go together... Okay?" Taiga snapped, his cheeks becoming tinted with a barely visible flush as he looked away and dropped his shoulders.

Daiki's brows furrowed, "Hey... What's going on with you? That's all you used to want was to be alone."

"I just don't, okay!" Taiga barked, instantly wincing as his thigh throbbed with an ache from the muscle tensing up.

"What the hell is wrong-"

Daiki was suddenly interrupted by a series of long distance howls, echoing far off in the distance, but in which direction, he had no idea. They were the howls of far off worgs, possibly orc owned, possibly wild, but either way, they were a serious threat. Worgs were pack hunters, and more often than not, they were successful in their quarries. They were fearsome predators, but when he opened his mouth to finish his retort, that's when he saw Taiga's true reasons for not wanting to be alone.

Taiga was shaking with fear, his eyes wide and glistening with moonlight from the returning tears that were caused by his undiluted terror. His hands were clamped down over his mouth to keep him from screaming, his eyes unseeing as he stared right through him and his skin had gone pale, becoming shiny with a thin layer of sweat. He was terrified of the worg that roamed the woods.

"Oh, Taiga-... It's the worg. You don't wanna be alone because of the worg." Daiki breathed out, his angering expression softening as he reached out a hand and placed it on Taiga's cheek.

The moment his hand touch his cold skin, Taiga flinched, but finally blinked, shedding a tear that slipped into the space between his cheek and Daiki's hand. It was warm, just like it was the first time he had touched his snout and it was comforting, soothing against the fire of the fear that racked through his unfamiliar body. He leaned into the touch, keeping a hand cupped over his mouth to stifle the whimper as he reached up and clutched Daiki's wrist.

"It's the dogs that kept you in the Hold isn't it." Daiki said, just watching Taiga close his eyes and breathe, keeping his hand against his cheek.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah." He nearly mouthed, his shaking calming down with the anchor of Daiki's hand.

Daiki sighed, but he knew and understood Taiga's crippling fear. He had never seen it before because every time he had gone to the Hold, the dogs had been returned to their pens for the night and when he had started to visit during the day, the dogs were out on patrol. Perhaps it was a bit of luck that they had never run into any, or perhaps he hadn't noticed, but in the end, Taiga hadn't run because no matter what form he was in, the dogs would sniff him out.

"Alright... We'll go in the morning. I'll stay here." Daiki said, trying to smile, but too concerned over Taiga's fear to maintain it.

Taiga nodded, "I'm sorry-"

"Stop apologizing. Don't apologizing for admitting your fear. There's no shame in it." Daiki said, his tone soft, but just stern enough to make Taiga open his eyes and look at him.

All Taiga could manage was another nod, but he kept Daiki's hand against his cheek, gripping his wrist with both hands for something to act as a ground. The distant howls sounded once more, making him flinch, but with Daiki there, his touch keeping the fear at bay, his heart finally began to slow down.

With a little help, he laid down on the bedroll, shifting a bit so that he lay perfectly flat with Daiki's hand still grasped in his. He needed that ground, but Daiki slipped his hand free to tug the cloak up to serve as a blanket. He placed it softly over his shoulders, but when he made to move away so Taiga could rest, his hand was grasped again.

"Stay... Please?" Taiga asked quietly, his crimson eyes still showing a bit of the fear.

Just that look made his chest pang with a dull ache, but even though it had only been a few weeks, Taiga was his friend, no matter the form. He understood the loneliness, the long nights of only having the silence to keep him company. Far too many of his nights he had tried to fill with women, or his captain, but none of them could fill the hole that had been bored into his heart.

With a nod, Daiki settled down next to the bedroll and curled his fingers around Taiga's hand.

"I'll stay... Now get some rest." He said, producing a gentle smile as he gazed down into Taiga's exhausted, half lidded eyes.

"You too." He said before his eyes closed and he immediately slipped off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Author's Note: Just found out I'm having a very early morning heading out for the day, so here's Chapter 7 early. :) There won't be an update tomorrow, so Friday we will resume normal scheduling! Happy New Year!**

The air was crisp, scented with the ash of a burnt down campfire. It was cool, but calm and the sound of the small river was so soothing, so comforting, that just the simple act of opening his eyes was turning out to be a chore.

Daiki drew in a long breath as he rolled onto his back to stretch, but the rocks beneath him made him cringe as they jabbed into his body. He groaned from stiffness that had set in and that's when he remembered that he hadn't gotten to sleep on his bedroll, because someone else had.

He opened his eyes and sat up, looking to his left at the bedroll, only to see that it was empty. His breath hitched as his eyes widened, instantly looking around to see where Taiga had gone, but he didn't see anything; No footprints, no drag marks, no blood, nothing at all could be seen and with the idea that Taiga was gone again, it only served to make his chest ache with rising worry and fear.

"Taiga?" Daiki said out loud, his voice carrying a ways through the ravine.

"What?"

Daiki snapped his head around to look in the other direction, setting them on Taiga whom was walking, albeit with a small limp, back towards their small camp. He was barefoot, but had turned the cloak into a makeshift shirt, having cut armholes and shortened it to mid-thigh before cutting a strip from what was left to serve as a belt to hold it closed around his torso. The pants only came down to just passed his knees, but he had rolled them up and tied a couple small strings to keep them in place and why became clear once he had walked close enough for him to see what he carried in his arms.

"You went and got food?" Daiki asked as Taiga set the pair of fish and the rabbit down onto the log.

"Yeah... I couldn't sleep anymore, so I did something useful. Is this okay?" Taiga asked before turning his attention to the burnt down fire.

Daiki gripped the back of his neck, "Uh... Y-Yeah. That's fine. Why didn't you wake me?" He asked, just watching as Taiga arranged the leftover wood into a peak.

Taiga just held up a finger as he sucked in a popping breath that hissed and crackled, his throat vibrating with a growl as the corner of his upper lip curled. His chest barreled as he held his deep inhale for just a moment before his diaphragm squeezed, blowing out a small fireball that slammed into the wood and instantly ignited it.

"You needed the rest just as much as I did, so I let you sleep." Taiga said, hiccuping a puff of flame before picking up the knife that he had stolen from Daiki's ankle sheath while he was asleep.

Daiki nodded, "I didn't mean to fall asleep. I wanted to stay awake and keep watch."

"It's fine... We kinda had a rough day yesterday." Taiga said, working to skin and gut the rabbit with smooth slices that Daiki found odd.

"Yeah... Hey, how do you know how to do that?" Daiki asked as Taiga peeled the skin off the rabbit without trouble.

"200 years of watching Humans makes one pick up a few things." Taiga said without looking up from what he was doing.

"I guess so... Want some help?" Daiki asked, rolling his shoulders a bit.

"Naw... Just sit. I'll be done in a few minutes anyways." Taiga said, not even flinching as he removed the rabbit's innards and threw them hard across the river and into a bush.

Daiki just sat and watched, palming a small rock to play with it while Taiga split the rabbit to finish dressing it before going to work on the fish. He peeled the skin off in solid pieces, discarding them and the guts in the same manner he had the rabbit's. He filleted them and ran his hand over the meat, coaxing the tiny, flexible bones to stick up where he quickly removed them and tossed them into the fire. He was incredibly skilled at preparing the meat and after skewering both fish and the rabbit onto sticks, he washed his hands in the river before sitting down and holding them over the fire.

"Nice work. I usually end up cutting myself." Daiki said with a huff, softly smiling as he just sat and watched breakfast cook.

Taiga smirked and lowly laughed, "Tried it once in my natural form... That didn't go very well." He rotated the sticks before sticking the ends into the ground, propped up against a log.

"With those short ass, stubby fingers?" Daiki started to snicker.

"Oi!... Shut up. I was bored and felt like trying it, but trying to filet a cow with a broadsword is a lot more difficult than it sounds." Taiga chuckled at himself as he gripped his shoulder and grinned.

"You grabbed the blade didn't you." Daiki deadpanned with an arced brow.

Taiga hung his head, "Yup."

Daiki started to laugh at the mental image, and the reprieve from their situation was welcomed with open arms. As much as he wanted it to stick around, he knew they would soon have to face that they were stranded in the Flameritter Forest with no supplies and their only real weapon was a small dagger and the flame Taiga could produce.

Too soon, his laughter faded away which drew Taiga's attention away from turning their breakfast over the cackling flames.

"You ever been here before?" Taiga asked, his smile gone as he licked his fingers from checking on their meal.

"A couple times before, but never like this. If I had a landmark, I could tell you how far town is from here, but I'm seeing one." Daiki said, scanning the ravine now that it was light and he could see.

"What kind of landmark?" Taiga asked.

"Well, I know of one that would help. There's a rocky cliff with a single tree on top of it, but the tree's real goofy looking... Like-" Daiki's voice trailed off as he thought.

"Does it kinda look like witch fingers? It's two trees in one and split down the middle?" Taiga asked as he gently rubbed his right thigh.

"Yeah! That's it!" Daiki yelped, his eyes widening with hope.

"I saw it. It's on the other side of the river and down that way." Taiga said with a point upstream.

"Awesome... Finally, we catch a break. Then town's about half a day's walk from here." Daiki said with a heavy sigh of relief.

"Maybe more... I'm not fast right now." Taiga said as he continued to rub his thigh.

"If it takes us all day, then fine, but the sooner we can get going the better. I've still got the coin I packed, so once we're there, we can get you some shoes and a real shirt." Daiki said as he rubbed the meat of his left shoulder.

"What's wrong with the shirt I made?" Taiga asked, looking down at himself.

Daiki sat up straighter, "I mean... I didn't say there was, but um... I mean... well-" He stuttered and eventually gave up.

"Is it not a normal Human shirt?" Taiga asked, his split brows shifting back with his concern that he wasn't blending in as well has he thought.

"No!... That's not what I meant. It's fine... I just thought you'd want a shirt of your own... That's all." Daiki blew out his held breath that had turned stale in his lungs.

Taiga's shoulders dropped, "D-Did I make a mistake making this?"

Daiki's eyes snapped open wide, "No! Oh gods, Taiga... No, not at all. It's fine... Really. You um... You did a pretty good job actually. It suits you." He cringed at the feeling of his cheeks heating up with a blush.

Hearing that, Taiga seemed to perk up as his shoulders returned to their natural square and his brows shifted back to their naturally aggressive appearance that made him look constantly intimidating and angry.

"T-Thanks. I wouldn't turn down a pair of shoes though... If you're still offering." Taiga said, deciding it best to pay attention to their meal still cooking over the fire with the hopes that he could pass off his blush as the heat.

Daiki smiled and nodded, "Of course."

Taiga's smile returned as he finished up cooking their meal, poking both the sizzling rabbit and the nice crispy fish to see if they were done. He pulled them off and handed a stick to Daiki, smiling through his bite as he chomped down on the rabbit with that very smile reaching his eyes. The meat was juicy, but plain, due to having no seasonings to boost the flavor with. Neither seemed to mind as they ate, Daiki peeling off large chunks of fish that he offered to Taiga while he did the same with the rabbit. They shared their meal and it was actually pleasant to start off their day with.

The meat consumed, Daiki packed up what supplies they had left before rolling up his bedroll and tying it to his bags. He slung them over his shoulders and stood while Taiga doused the flames with dirt, crawling to the river's edge to wash his hands and accepting Daiki's help to get to his feet. His thigh still thumped with ache, but that's all there was which was certainly something he could deal with.

With Taiga's bare feet wrapped with what was left of the cannibalized cloak, they started to walk along the river's bank, heading upstream to where Taiga had said he had seen the strange tree. The cloth helped to somewhat guard his feet against the rocks, but every few steps, he would almost stumble from the sharp rocks that would jab into his feet. Every time, Daiki would flinch to catch him before he fell, and every time he would reach out and grab Daiki's shoulders for support. The last thing either of them wanted was for him to sustain anymore harm and deciding walking along the bank was too dangerous, Daiki grabbed Taiga's wrist and lead him onto more stable ground.

They walked just outside the rocks' boundaries for a bit before they stopped, having reached a cliff with a waterfall that splashed into a small pool. It was topped with lush green trees and the rock of the cliff was stained green from a thick blanket of moss that had grown over time.

"This where you caught the fish?" Daiki asked, letting Taiga's wrist slip from his grasp.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... I crossed over there by those boulders." He said, pointing to a line of protruding rocks that parted the water as it rushed downstream from the pool.

Daiki just nodded before dropping his bags onto the ground while he crouched down, planting a knee and with his back facing Taiga.

"Get on... I don't wanna risk you falling." Daiki said, his brows lightly furrowed as he glanced back over his shoulder.

"Huh?... But I crossed on my own earlier." Taiga said, making no move to climb onto Daiki's back.

"Taiga... Don't argue." Daiki deadpanned.

Taiga grunted as he glared, but ultimately decided to do as Daiki wanted. He climbed onto his back, wrapping his arms and legs around the man's trunk before snatching the bags just as Daiki stood and interlocked his hands beneath his rump to give him some sort of seat. With a shy into his shoulders, Taiga was grateful that Daiki couldn't see the blush coloring his cheeks as he started to walk towards the boulders.

"Gods, you're heavy." Daiki grunted, taking slow and firm steps since his legs were walking for two.

"Well, no shit!... I'm usually 12,000 pounds, or so, so shut your trap." Taiga snarled with a curl of his lip as Daiki stepped up onto the first boulder.

"I'm not even gonna ask how I can carry you if that's the case." Daiki scoffed, concentrating on shuffling over the rocks as carefully as possible.

"Magic." Taiga grunted as he tightened his hold around Daiki's neck.

Daiki rolled his eyes, "Simple enough answer."

With Taiga's added weight, Daiki had to take extra time to find a good path over the boulders, deciding it best not to try and jump the gap in favor of actually stepping down into a shallow part of the river to finish crossing to the other bank. He knelt down and let Taiga slide off his back where he instantly felt a million pounds lighter. He bent over and planted a hand on the ground to take a breather, but when his shoulder was lightly tapped, he looked up to see Taiga offering him a hand.

"You didn't have to carry me." Taiga said, crookedly smiling down at him with the bags slung over one shoulder.

Daiki couldn't stop the returned smile as he took the offering to get to his feet, taking back the bags before they started to walk once more with Taiga in the lead. Their tree was just around the next bend, and with his direction set, Daiki took over and started heading deeper into the forest.

Throughout his time as a rider, he had come to the Flameritter Forest many times for assignment, and the town he knew quite well. It was small, quaint even, surrounded by a tall wooden wall to protect those inside from the dangers of the night. There wasn't much in the town, but the necessities were there, being a few shops and an inn that doubled as the town's tavern.

As the mid afternoon sun worked its hardest to get through the canopy, Daiki and Taiga finally stopped walking at the edge of the treeline, both taking in slightly faster breaths from their lengthy hike that took them up and down steep hills and over less than agreeable terrain. They were both tired and thirsty and as Daiki grabbed Taiga's wrist, they started the last leg of their exhausting journey.

Finally, after hours of walking, the pair walked through the front gate of town with no one paying them any mind. People of several different races, being from Human, to Elven and even a pair of Dwarves walked right passed them as if they didn't even exist. The town was situated in a small clearing, only there because the trees had been cut down to build the very wall to protect it. The sun was hot and with the rising humidity, it was shaping up to be a hot day.

"The tavern should be on the next street. We'll rest there." Daiki said through his tired breathing as he released Taiga's wrist.

"My leg hurts." Taiga grumbled, his eyes tired and his brow slicked with sweat.

"Both of mine hurt... Come on." Daiki said with a motion of his head.

Taiga just swallowed and hunched as he followed a half step behind, pressing his hand against his thigh to stave off the ache just that little bit longer. He very much wanted to sit down and rest, and mercifully, Daiki ducked down a short alley to the other street where the tavern came into view.

It was a moderately busy place, but since the town itself was small, there wasn't nearly as many people as would be if it was The Dragon's Fyre. They walked up the stairs and through the heavy wooden door, finding that there were only a few tables that were full and leaving the bar entirely open where the bartender worked to set up his establishment for the day.

"Hey... Are they any rooms available?" Daiki asked as they approached, dropping his bags down on the bar.

"Ten coin a night." The male, heavy set bartender said gruffly without even looking up from his task of washing dishes.

Taiga didn't even bother to wait as he sat down on a stool with a relieved sigh.

"We'll take it. How much for a couple meals?" Daiki asked, opening his bag to look for his coin.

"Five each. It's stew." The bartender said.

"Two please... and mead to go with it." Daiki said as he pulled the pouch.

"Twenty five." Said the man as he set to work.

Daiki counted out the needed amount and set it down on the bar top as the man set down two filled tankards in front of them before swiping the coins. They just sat in silence while they waited, sipping their drinks that felt liberating to their dry throats and after a short bit, the bartender returned with two large wooden bowls and set them down in front of his patrons.

No sooner did his hand leave the bowls, Daiki and Taiga picked up the spoons and started wolfing down the thick stew, hardly even bothering to chew before swallowing it down. They dunked the chunks of bread to help them mop up the liquid as they ate and before too long, the bowls were entirely empty, right along with their tankards.

"Gods... That feels better." Taiga sighed with content, resting a hand on his belly from his meal.

Daiki nodded, "I could go for another round."

"Me too."

"Bartender! Two more please!" Daiki instantly called out as he held up the required amount.

"Do you have enough?" Taiga asked, finally feeling as if he could say more than just a couple words now that he had a helping in his belly.

"We'll be fine. The only other thing we've gotta get is a pair of boots for you." Daiki said as the bartender set down their refilled tankards.

Taiga bit the corner of his bottom lip, "What if it takes more than one day to recover my power?" He whispered so lowly that he doubted Daiki heard his words at all.

Daiki just exhaled a small smile as he placed his hand down on Taiga's forearm, "We'll be fine. Try not to talk about it though... I don't want anyone finding out what you are." He whispered back just as softly.

Taiga just nodded and returned the smile as the bartender set down two more bowls of stew.

"What do we do in the meantime? I'm not really in any shape to fight off a bunch of orcs." Taiga said, his voice returning to normal as he started to eat.

"We'll figure it out. We're not completely defenseless, but I should send a message back to the castle and report." Daiki said.

Taiga dunked his bread, "I guess we confirmed those reports. There is orc activity."

"No shit-" Daiki was interrupted.

"They've been intruding closer and closer to town ever since that big earthquake a while back. Word is they caught wind of some treasure." The bartender interjected as he returned to doing the dishes just a few paces away.

Daiki and Taiga shared a glance.

"What treasure?" Daiki asked, his brows furrowing a bit as he ate.

"Not real sure, but a few people have come through here talking about how they're digging up some old temple out along the far northern ridge. I guess the quake opened up a fisher and they stumbled on it." The bartender said.

"What temple?" Taiga asked, taking a gulp of mead.

The bartender shrugged, "No one is real sure, but a few have said it could be the lost temple of Amalphia."

Both Daiki's and Taiga's brows furrowed hard.

"What did you just say?" Taiga asked, needing to hear it again to prove he wasn't hearing things.

The bartender nodded, "The lost temple of Amalphia... Why? You heard of it?"

Taiga nodded, "Yeah. The Dragon Goddess Amalphia. She's believed to be the guardian of life and soul."

The bartender nodded, "Bingo... But it's just old bedtime stories. Who knows the real reason why the orcs are digging."

"Thanks. We'll take a look." Daiki said with a curt nod.

"You from the Crimson Kingdom?" The bartender asked.

Daiki nodded.

"Room's free. Meals aren't." The bartender huffed firmly before tossing back ten of the coins that Daiki caught.

"Oh... Uh, thanks." Daiki said, just staring with a bit of confusion as he held the coins in his palm.

As the bartender walked away to go about his own business, Daiki and Taiga glanced at each other once more with their second helpings going ignored in their bowls.

"Do you know anything else about this lost temple thing?" Daiki asked, returning to eating his meal.

"A bit, yeah. What do you wanna know?" Taiga asked before stuffing a large bite into his mouth.

"Assume for a second that this suspected temple really does belong to this Amalphia... What treasure would she have?" Daiki asked.

"If I remember right, my broodmother said it was a dagger, or something." Taiga said, having stuffed his large bite into his cheeks to make room to talk.

"A dagger? What makes it treasure?" Daiki asked, taking a long drag of mead.

"Gods... You're asking shit I haven't heard for quite awhile." Taiga rolled his eyes as he finished his mouthful.

"Try." Daiki said.

"Alright... Um-" he scrubbed his hair, "The dagger is said to be imbued with Amalphia's power, in where if the wielder pierces a heart with it, their ultimate wish is granted." Taiga said, sucking down a few gulps of mead to finish off his meal with a full belly.

"Just a heart? That's it?" Daiki asked, his brows lightly furrowed as he pushed his emptied bowl away.

"It's not that easy... Say you wanted to replace the King. You'd have to pierce his heart with it before the dagger granted your wish." Taiga said, lightly rubbing his thigh.

Daiki nodded, "Right... So if these orcs are looking for it," his face dropped, "then they could be looking to do the same." He looked at Taiga.

"Hate to say it, but yeah." Taiga nodded.

Daiki sighed, "Shit... This just got more complicated." He crossed his arms and leaned forward against the bar top.

"Sorry." Taiga cringed.

"It's not complicated because of you, Idiot. It's complicated because now, we've gotta hunt down this temple and stop them." Daiki said as he looked at his friend.

Taiga nodded, "Great... And I'm stuck like this."

"Shush about it will ya?" Daiki hissed through lightly clenched teeth.

"Sorry... I can't just ignore it. It's a thing we've gotta deal with." Taiga said with an innocent shrug.

"And we will, but if someone finds out, Taiga, then we'll have bigger problems." Daiki said, his dark blue eyes conveying his seriousness.

"Don't you think I know that?" Taiga hissed back in a harsh whisper, leaning closer to Daiki to ensure he could hear him.

"Then stop talking about it. I swear to the gods, Taiga, if something happens to you-" Daiki stopped himself by sucking his lips into his mouth.

Taiga's brows furrowed, "What?... You'll walk home?"

With a growl, Daiki just grabbed his bags and took the room key sitting on the bar before storming for the stairs on the other side that lead up to the rooms. The hallway was dark, which he was grateful for, as he was positive his face was fuming red with not just rage, but embarrassment. He was angry about what was unfolding with the rumors, but with each step he took, he was finding that he was more angry with Taiga. He hated his snide remarks, how condescending he got when all he was trying to do was protect him. Just the thought of something happening to him made his chest hurt, but he was having a hell of a time figuring out why. Taiga was his friend, and his dragon, but he was starting to feel the flick of perhaps caring.

He reached their room and unlocked it, throwing the door open to slam it shut behind him and freeze as he turned around to look at the room. There was a single bed, a large bed, but one bed nonetheless. A pair of end stands where on either side and a single trunk was placed along the wall beneath the line of hooks where they could hang their belongings and a cast iron tub that left him with the potential of taking a bath that rested in the far back corner of their room.

"Shit-" Daiki grumbled out as he racked a hand back over his hair, tossing the bags onto the bed that he couldn't stop staring at.

He had no idea what they were going to do, but with only one bed, somebody was going to end up on the floor. He grumbled as he sat down on the bed's edge, gripping the back of his neck with both hands as he stared up at the ceiling. He just wanted to breathe, to let the strange anger that he couldn't place go away, but when a rather soft knock rapped against the door, he heavily sighed and stood up.

"Daiki... Open the door." Came Taiga's voice as Daiki headed for it.

Pursing his lips together, Daiki pulled the door open, his eyes narrowed with the phantom anger as he glared at the redhead on the other side. His own eyes were narrowed and fuming and his lips were curved down into a hard frown as he glared right back. Taiga wasn't even close to phased by Daiki's mood and didn't give a care as he pushed passed into the room.

"I didn't say you could come in." Daiki snarled, but shut the door anyways.

"Don't need it. It's my room too." Taiga fired back as he crossed his arms and glared back at him.

"That I paid for." Daiki said bluntly.

"I'll let you know when I give a shit." Taiga curled the corner of his top lip.

Daiki's anger started to shift from ethereal to tangible, "Blow off... I feed you, give you medical attention, a room to stay in and clothes to wear, and you still act like you don't give a flying frog's fat ass." He threw his hands up in defeat.

Taiga's eyes furrowed hard, "You want your clothes back? Fine by me... I've been walking around naked for 230 years." He snapped as he started to untie the cloth belt around his waist that held his shirt closed around his torso.

His eyes snapping wide at the realization that Taiga truly did intent to strip down, Daiki rushed forward and grabbed Taiga's hands to stop him. He was close enough to feel Taiga's heated breaths blowing out of his nose, but he didn't care as he held the furious crimson gaze that was eye level with his.

"Why are you so abrasive?" Daiki asked, his voice low as he took in deep, controlled breaths, still gripping Taiga's hands on the cloth belt.

Taiga exhaled and swallowed as his eyes scanned Daiki's face, "Because in the end, everyone just leaves. So why be nice?" He said in just above a whisper.

"I haven't gone anywhere." Daiki said, wetting his lips with a single slick of his tongue before he swallowed.

Taiga slowly shook his head, "But you will... Even if you stayed for the rest of your life, in a hundred years, you'll be gone."

Daiki held his breath as he released one of Taiga's hands to reach up and brush the pads of his fingertips down his cheek, seeing Taiga's lips part ever so slightly from the touch. As he watched his crimson eyes, they looked away from him, opting to look off to the side simply to avoid his dark blue ones. He drifted his fingers down Taiga's neck, going slow as Taiga closed his eyes and started to loll his head over to give him more room to roam.

"No matter the form, you still like this." Daiki said lowly, changing his fingers direction to drift them back up.

Taiga nodded and exhaled, "It makes me feel like I'm not alone." He admitted, his eyes opening just enough to shift over to meet Daiki's.

"You're not alone anymore, Taiga. I'd walk my ass all the way back to the Crimson Kingdom if it meant to keep you safe." Daiki said, his eyes half lidded as he shuffled a half step closer to the tall redhead.

"What were you gonna say downstairs?" Taiga asked, dropping his cheek to his shoulder as Daiki's fingers ran the length of his neck over and over.

Daiki stepped in even closer, pinning his and Taiga's hands between them as he began to lower his head, bringing his mouth close enough to Taiga's exposed neck to let his hot breath fall over his lightly tanned skin.

"If something were to happen to you, being a rider wouldn't mean anything to me anymore. Without you... I wouldn't feel complete like I do right now." Daiki whispered, bowing his head just a bit more to brush the tip of his nose up Taiga's neck.

Taiga bit his bottom lip as he started to pant, reaching up with his available hand to place it along Daiki's neck, "I'm just a dragon to you."

Daiki froze, "I don't see a dragon... I see you."

Taiga exhaled and tried with all of his might to silence the airy moan as Daiki's lips left feather light kisses along his neck, making his heart stutter in its beats. His mind was getting so thick with fog that he was having trouble remembering their position, and it only got worse as Daiki's fingers found their way into his hair on the nape of his neck.

"D-Daiki-" He exhaled, gulping to keep himself from moaning any louder than his breath would allow.

He gripped the meat of Daiki's shoulders tighter as he grimaced, his heart beating so erratically that his chest was starting to hurt. He wanted to run away, wanted to get as far away from this Human as possible, but his body was awash with so much pleasure, so much heat and hidden flame that his whole body was starting to melt. This was why he didn't like people touching him, but when Daiki did, it was a sensation he couldn't resist. It was his drug.

His eyes snapping open, Taiga's whole body instantly tensed as he planted his hands on Daiki's chest and shoved him away hard enough to make him fall back onto the bed.

"Stop!... Don't touch me!" Taiga gulped, breathing so heavily that it was almost as though he had just got done with the fiercest of battles.

"W-What?... T-Taiga-" Daiki stuttered, his eyes wide from shock as he swallowed.

"Don't touch me!... Don't you lay a single finger on me!... Never again!" Taiga snapped, his eyes glassy, but he still couldn't make himself move as he just tried to breathe.

Daiki's brows furrowed in his confusion, "Taiga-... What's wrong? What did I do?" He asked, his chest aching at the thought that he had just majorly screwed up.

Taiga's bottom lip quivered, "You knew... You knew and you used it against me!" His deep voice cracked.

"Knew what?" Daiki asked, unable to close his mouth from his shock and confusion.

"That's all I am to you... Just some dumb animal you can manipulate as you see fit, well not me! It will never be me!" Taiga hissed through tightly clenched teeth that ground loudly as a tear crawled free from his bottom lid.

Daiki shook his head, "Taiga, please... I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"You know... You're a rider, so don't play that game with me. You know our skin is hypersensitive and you used it like a weapon!" Taiga said with more cracking in his voice, his bottom lip having never stopped its quivering as he tried to control his emotions.

Daiki's jaw dropped, "Hypersensitive?... W-What?"

Taiga's brows pulled down hard, "Y-You don't know?"

Daiki just shook his head as he stayed perfectly still, actually afraid that if he moved, he would provoke the man even more.

"Our skin... Our hide is so tough that most of our bodies can't really feel, but there are still spots that are so sensitive that even a light breeze can be enough to make our eyes roll into the back of our heads... My neck... Just your breath on my neck makes me melt." Taiga said, blowing out a broken and stuttering breath as another tear fell free from the other eye.

"Taiga-... I'm so sorry... I didn't know." Daiki said, licking his lips as he sat up slowly, not willing to frighten him off.

"J-Just stay away from me... You'll just disappear soon anyways just like all the others... Just like everyone else. It's safer to be alone." Taiga hiccuped before he turned and ran.

Before Daiki could say anything, Taiga was gone from the room, slamming the door behind him and leaving him completely shocked sitting on the bed. His mind was having trouble putting together what just happened, but all he was certain of, was that being close to him, feeling the heat radiating off his skin made his heart skip so softly that it was euphoric. He didn't lie when he said that all he saw was Taiga, that he didn't see a mere dragon, or a man. All he saw was someone he cared about, someone he wanted the best for. Taiga wasn't a Drake, or a Human; To him, he was his soul-mate.

Daiki shot up from the bed with the intention of going after him, but when a ringing bell sounded from outside the small, scuzzy window, he was seasoned enough to know that it was a warning bell. He ran from the room and bounded down the stairs, only to stop at the bar as he saw the bartender pulling a sword from beneath the counter.

"Hey! Where'd the redhead go?" Daiki demanded, looking out the larger windows as men ran by, all armed with swords, shields and bows to defend the town.

"Out the door. You better hurry though. Orcs are close." The bartender said as he stepped out from behind the bar with sword in hand.

"I need a sword... Now!" Daiki snapped, his whole 6'3 frame getting jittery with the thought that Taiga was in danger.

"Here! He went towards the southern end of town!" The bartender said as he tossed him the sword.

Without even a flinch, Daiki reached out and grabbed the handle of the sword, swirling it around in a single hand before running out of the door and turning South, completely intent on finding not only his friend, but a soul he had come to love.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Author's Note: Happy New Year! :D Everyone have a safe weekend and here's chapter 8 to kick off 2016!**

The warning bell in the center of town rang loud and echoing as townsfolk scurried to their posts to defend their homes, but there was one man heading in the opposite direction with a sword ready and willing to defend a single one.

Daiki's heart was racing as he ran, not just with his physical exertion, but with his panic that Taiga was in trouble. He darted through the crowd like a fish swimming upstream in his determination to get to the southern end of town, but with the thick stream of people, it was hard to see any hint to where he had gone.

"Taiga!... Taiga! Answer me!" Daiki called out loudly, but his voice was drowned out by not only the bell, but the running and screaming of the townsfolk.

With the late hour, the sun had started to set, casting long, dark shadows along the ground and with the heavy twilight, it made it hard to see anything other than running silhouettes. Despite that, he pushed through and just as the guards started to close the southern gate, he charged through without even slowing down.

"Taiga!" Daiki yelled, furiously scanning the forest and clearing with the desperate hope of spotting him.

"Daiki!"

It was a distant yell, but his ears could easily pick out that it was a panicked call. It echoed in the clearing, but with another scream that was followed by the angry snarls of worg, Daiki knew where to go.

Gripping the sword tight, he ran for the small nearby hill and charged up its slope as fast as possible, his legs screaming from the burn of hulking his form up such a steep angle. He tripped and planted his hands to keep from plowing his face into the grass, but his legs never stopped as he reached the top to see that instead of heading back down, the hill plateaued.

Now that he was higher up, the sun's fading light lit the plateau, shining yellow on the group of orcs that surrounded Taiga, whom had fallen back onto his ass, and all barely held their attack worgs at bay by the their leashes. They barked and snarled, snapping at him from all angles as they thrashed with the hopes of breaking free to sink their teeth into Taiga's flesh. Even from his short distance away, he could see the sheer, undiluted terror in Taiga's eyes that shed so many tears, that his cheeks were stained with long lines of shine. He was so scared, so frozen solid with fright that he shook until his eyes shifted just enough to set them into Daiki's soul.

"Daiki!" Taiga screamed so loud, so hard that the tendons in his neck flexed in order to produce the power needed to overcome the barking of the worgs.

Daiki was instantly furious as he charge for them, bringing the sword up as one of the orcs turned to confront him with his rabid worg. He let the leash go and the worg charged, breaking out into a full run with stained teeth bared, but Daiki swung down to slice the sword through the worg's skull, spraying blood out into a plume that stained his own clothes.

"Get Human!" A female orc howled as she drew her axe from her back.

The other orcs turned and charged, all releasing their worgs that scattered to begin their attack and left Taiga to watch as Daiki defended himself against six orcs and five worgs. His heart was beating so fast and so hard that it felt like it was about to burst, and his breathing was so broken that he barely got any use out of a single breath. Daiki clanged his sword against an orc's axe, thrusting it away to bring the sword up into a huge arcing slice that gutted the thing before a worg lunged for him. He managed to wheel around in time to slice the beast's neck, but that put his back towards the female orc whom was intent to bury her large, blood stained axe.

Time slowed as Taiga just reacted, flailing to get to his feet and run in time. His feet seemed to fail him, but he pushed through it as he ran, ignoring the worg all around with the single focus of stopping the axe. Daiki defended against the other attacks, but he hadn't taken notice, hadn't realized that an axe was coming down, wielded by the female orc whom was just as physically strong as the men were.

Just before the axe made contact, Taiga tackled the overly buff female whom was taller than he, taking them both to the ground, but with her strength on par, or even out matching his, he had to result to his unique weapon. He straddled her lap, pinning her arms between his legs and grabbed her fierce jaw, slamming their lips together and drawing in a huge breath as he used his tongue to force her mouth open. She squirmed to get him off of her, but her eyes opened wide once Taiga's throat crackled with what was coming.

Holding his breath for just a second, Taiga unleashed the billowing fire he had charged directly into her throat while Daiki killed off another two orcs by using one as a shield to fend off the blade from the other. The flame was hidden by their joined mouths, but he knew it was burning her from the inside, charring her body black that could only be seen if one was to cut her open. He could smell the ash as smoke began to drift out of her pierced nose and when her eyes, her pale green eyes went blank, he knew it was over.

His breath running out, Taiga released her and sat up, taking in another panting breath to recover, but he was soon plowed over when a worg came after him.

"No! No no no no no! Get away from me!" Taiga screamed, panicking as he flailed and wrapped his hands around the worg's throat to keep its mashing jaws from finding their target.

The snarl the worg made sprayed spit all over Taiga's face as he turned his head away, trying desperately to put as much distance between he and it as he could. It struggled against his hold to get to him, clawing and mashing and growling, all while snapping its teeth. Taiga was terrified, but he kept his strength up just to hold it off. The orcs couldn't know what he was, couldn't see him blow fire, and he wasn't about to put his face anywhere near the beast's jagged maw to try to hide it like her had done with the female. He grit his own teeth together as his arms bulged with muscle, simply to counter the animal's greater strength, but from his fear, his strength would not going to last long.

"Daiki!" Taiga called out, his eyes shedding another tear as his arms started to shake from holding the struggling worg back.

He could hear the clanging of swords, and it was enough to tell him that Daiki was still fighting, but he didn't dare look away out of the sheer fear that the worg would pull some kind of shady trick. He hated the beasts, hated them to no end and wanted them all just to stay away from him. He had had nightmares about them, went out of his way to avoid them, but he was trapped beneath one that very much wanted to taste his blood.

As his arms started to fail, the worg drew closer, still mashing his teeth that were so close, Taiga could smell the old blood on them. More tears came as his ears became filled with his own heartbeat and he could hear how panicked and frantic it was. There was no rhythm to it, no calming beat that he could focus on. It was as chaotic as he was, and as the worg's tongue fell from its mouth to slick over his cheek, Taiga squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the pain.

The sound of his heartbeat was soon overshadowed by the wet slice of a sword separating flesh that was soon followed by the heat of blood pouring over his stomach. He didn't want to open his eyes to see, but when he finally realized that there was no pain, his curiosity began to take over.

He opened a single eye, seeing the worg had frozen mid snarl and its mouth hung open. The beast's long tongue slid out of its mouth where it just hung there like a vine, not moving, or sliding over his skin to taste him like a morsel of food. He forced himself to breathe as he looked down at his stomach that was smeared in blood, but it wasn't his, rather being from the gaping wound in the worg's gut from the sword that was just thrust through it.

Finally focusing enough to toss the worg, Taiga threw it away where its dead body slid from the sword that was caked in blood. He looked up to see Daiki standing over him, covered in blood that wasn't his. He breathed heavily from fighting off the orcs and as Taiga looked around, he realized that Daiki had killed them all, including the worgs.

"D-Daiki?-" Taiga forced out through his tightening throat, his body beginning to shake from adrenaline as his breath began to stutter.

Daiki dropped the sword and knelt down beside him, wrapping him up in his arms and brought him to his chest. He was so relieved that Taiga was alright, that when Taiga began to shake with sobs, he couldn't ignore the sting in his own eyes.

"Ssh-... I'm here. They're all dead... They won't hurt you." Daiki said softly, holding Taiga close and tight as he pressed his lips to the crimson hair.

"T-They c-came at me with t-them... I-I c-couldn't r-run f-fast enough." Taiga tried to say, barely able to talk without stuttering because of what terror remained in his system.

"It's okay... It's okay. You still fought. You got that alpha female and you saved my life yet again." Daiki said, brushing his hand down Taiga's sweaty hair along the back of his head.

Taiga nodded, but after several forced breaths that he steadied to keep from hyperventilating, he pulled back just enough to look up with his reddened eyes.

"So who's ahead? Me, or you?" Taiga asked, managing to crack a brief smile before it disappeared in that same instant.

"I lost count." Daiki smiled, sucking on his own lips as he drifted his hand down Taiga's cheek.

Again, Taiga briefly smiled, but it too vanished just like before. His terror was fading now that the worgs were dead, but he still lightly shook as the adrenaline waned. He felt cold from the panicked sweat that had covered his body and the gritty dirt that had caked on his legs when he ran from the town was freezing. His teeth lightly chattered, but he couldn't tell if it was because he was cold, or he was still riding the high of the adrenaline in his veins.

He snapped out of his head when he felt Daiki's warm hand trail down his neck, hitting that hypersensitive spot that immediately helped to calm him down. The shaking stopped and his breathing evened, his heart returning to a calmer rhythm as he looked up through his lashes to meet dark blue. Daiki had never intended to use the hypersensitivity against him like a weapon, but rather, because he wanted to let Taiga know that he cared. It instantly made Taiga feel like an ass.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to blow up at you like that." Taiga said, lolling his head over to let Daiki's fingers run their course.

"It's fine... I didn't know and I'm sorry it made you feel uncomfortable." Daiki said lowly, his fingertips smoothly drifting over Taiga's chilled skin as they explored his neck.

Taiga bit his bottom lip as the touch along his neck made his skin pimple, "It wasn't uncomfortable... Just... scary."

Daiki's eyelids drew halfway down as he leaned in closer to him, feeling Taiga's heated breath splay across his face from each exhale from his parted lips. Taiga's eyes were closed and his head was far over towards his shoulder while his fingers danced over his skin, and his lips were parted just enough to make them look as plump as a perfectly ripe fruit.

The pull to be closer was too much for Daiki to ignore as he closed the distance to meeting Taiga's lips, touching down just hard enough to feel their heat and know that they weren't just the wind. He stayed perfectly still out of the fear of scaring Taiga again, but when he felt him return the barest of pressure in their motionless kiss, he finally started to move.

His eyes still closed, Daiki felt Taiga's hand reach up and grasp the side of his neck as he leaned forward, pushing Taiga back as he came to cover him. He braced himself on his hands as their lips slowly began to move, his eyes still closed, and his lungs began to burn with the desperate need to breathe. He opened his eyes just enough to see Taiga's were still closed and his whole body shivered when the man's fingers threaded into his hair on the nape of his neck.

As much as he didn't want to part, Daiki separated their lips, but only enough to allow him to suck in a shaky breath as his forehead touched down onto Taiga's.

"Are you okay?" Daiki asked, leaning on an elbow to free up a hand so he could place his fingertips against Taiga's cheek.

Taiga bit his bottom lip, "Yeah... Just rattled." He near whispered, his half-lidded eyes scanning Daiki's face.

Daiki slowly nodded as he moved his fingers along Taiga's skin to his pulse point, feeling that his heart was much calmer and had fully returned to its normal rhythm. He slowly exhaled as he dropped his head once more, pressing their lips together for another slow kiss that made both hold their breath.

For Taiga, it was so warm, not just to feel lips against his that were still unfamiliar, but also to feel the weight laying over him. He felt safe, like he didn't have to sleep with one eye open and with the added sensation of Daiki's fingers against his neck, he began to melt again.

However, with a heavy chill setting into his skin from the drying sweat, Taiga lightly shivered not from pleasure, but rather cold. He parted their lips as he drifted his fingers down Daiki's cheek and he started to smile; The first time in a long time that felt genuine and not forced.

"I shutter to think what you would've done if I was still a dragon." Taiga said with an airy smile, his left leg sliding out from beneath Daiki to arc up just enough to place the inside of his thigh against the man's hip.

Daiki lowly laughed, "Probably just kiss your snoot."

"Snoot?... What am I? A dog?" Taiga's throat rattled, matching Daiki's laugh as their foreheads touched once more.

Daiki couldn't stop himself from laughing, relishing in the delicious sound coming from Taiga's throat. The smile that reached his eyes made him beautiful, perfectly matched with his split brows and the color of his hair. He couldn't resist smiling back and just the sight of him made Daiki's heart scream into the heavens.

Placing another kiss, Daiki finally pushed himself up and grasped Taiga's hands, pulling him up with him where he wrapped his arms around him and buried his face into the crook of his neck.

"I'm glad you're okay." Daiki said, pressing his lips into the meat of Taiga's shoulders.

Taiga exhaled, "I should be saying that to you. Six orcs with worgs is a huge undertaking." He said, pulling away from the returned embrace to grasp both sides of Daiki's jaw.

"Nothing's too much when it comes to defending you. It'll only be like this until you get your power back. I know you're weaker in this form and the moment you're ready, you'll change back." Daiki said, doing the same with his hands that Taiga had done.

Taiga nodded, "We'll see what happens." He said almost too quietly.

Not thinking anything of it, Daiki brought their lips together, and as much as he wished to stay like that, he parted near immediately and grasped Taiga's hands to start back towards town. From the plateau, both saw the town had calmed down as soldiers marched through the main front gate, all covered in blood. The town was safe and as they returned, Daiki lead Taiga back to the inn where he had ordered their metal tub filled with hot water.

It took some time, but the cast iron tub was eventually filled with piping hot water with a tray of smoldering coals underneath, but instead of getting in himself, Daiki helped Taiga to strip down and helped to lower him in for a long soak, if at all to relax the ache away from their ordeal.

"You're the one covered in blood and you have me get in the bath first." Taiga crookedly smiled, leaning back far to rest the base of his skull against the rim of the huge tub.

Daiki held his breath to stifle his groan as he sat down on the trunk he dragged over and dunked a rag into the water, "I'm more worried about you. I'm not the one stuck in a form I hate." He rung out the water and began to clean his face.

"It's growing on me." Taiga said, taking in a huge breath to fill his lungs with steam as he lightly splashed his exposed knees with the water to keep them warm.

Daiki smiled, but it faded as he finished wiping the blood from his face and dunked the rag, "You don't have to stay like that, Taiga. I know you hate Humans and I understand... We're assholes." He avoided Taiga's gaze.

His brows lightly furrowing, Taiga reached up, splashing the piping hot water to place his wet hand against Daiki's cheek. The touch earned back his attention, but his eyes couldn't hold his for longer than a second.

"You aren't." He said softly, brushing his thumb under Daiki's eye to swipe away a missed spot of blood.

"I really am... I'm a hard guy to love." Daiki said, lightly frowning as he removed Taiga's hand to just hold it instead.

Taiga didn't say anything as he just watched Daiki's expression grow distant, how he made an effort to ignore his eyes as he looked to the side at the foot of the tub.

"I don't know what draws me to you, Taiga, but I all I know for sure is that... I wanna be near you. It just feels right." Daiki said after several silent moments, gripping and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Would you be saying the same if I was in my natural form?" Taiga asked, his voice calm and quiet, his fingers threading between Daiki's.

That earned him that dark blue gaze.

"I think I would... All my other dragons, I always felt like something was missing; That there was just this small, minuscule thing that I couldn't find. I'm not saying you're just some other dragon to me, you're not... You're more than that." Daiki said, releasing Taiga's hand to dunk his rag once more to return to cleaning himself up.

"You're more than a rider to me, Daiki. I've hated Humans for so long that I never thought there could be one out there that just fit. All the other Humans saw just another dragon; A dumb animal they could exploit and use, but not you. You saw me even when I tried to hide it." Taiga said, softly exhaling as he sat up and took the rag from Daiki's hands.

Without protest, Daiki just let the rag slip from his grasp to be dunked by Taiga, whom rung it out and took his hand to extend his arm. He began to run it over his skin, cleaning away the blood that had begun to dry into a blackish rust. Daiki lightly smiled as he watched, and when Taiga went to wet the rag again, he stood up from the trunk and took his hand back.

Not saying a word, Daiki pulled up his shirt and took it off, tossing it aside onto the floor since it was covered in blood. He toed off his boots and socks, but once he stood before Taiga with only his pants on, he froze with his fingers barely touching the drawstring that kept them in place.

"Why hesitate?" Taiga asked in just above a whisper, his eyes scanning Daiki's caramel colored and trimmed form.

Daiki held his breath, "Fear." He admitted.

Releasing the rag to simply float, Taiga stood up, using the rim of the tub for support as the water fell from his body. The streams followed the valleys of his muscles, screaming all the way down to splash back into the water as he rose to his full height with no indication that he was embarrassed about being naked in front of him. He just held Daiki's gaze with his own as he reached out and took his hands, gently coaxing him to step closer until his knees bumped into the edge of the tub.

"I've never seen fear on your face, so why fear this? You're Captain's seen you before." Taiga said as he moved his hands to the drawstring that held Daiki's pants to his hips, never once looking away from the other man's eyes.

Daiki shook his head, "No, he hasn't... I've never gotten naked for him, nor has he for me. Our... exchanges were always more akin to a whore in an alley." He said, holding his breath as Taiga's fingers began to dance over his abdomen from tugging on the drawstring.

"Why do you subject yourself to him?" Taiga asked, leaning closer to nuzzle his face into the crook of Daiki's neck.

Daiki closed his eyes as his head was softly pushed over, standing perfectly still as the drawstring came loose to allow his pants to hang so low on his hips, that the small trail of dark blue hair that hid behind them became visible. He focused on breathing as Taiga's hands pushed his pants down, letting them fall all the way to his ankles as his lips started to kiss and suckle at the base of his neck. A hot shiver shot down his spine at the sensation and he suddenly realized how Taiga must have felt when he had done the same to him.

"Come here." Taiga whispered through the ultra gentle ministrations as he grasped Daiki's hips and lightly pulled.

Daiki stepped out of his pants and into the water that was hot enough to make him suck in a sharp hiss, but the sting only remained for a short time until his skin got used to the temperature. The water sloshed around as he allowed Taiga to guide him, turning him around so his back was against his chest, and he didn't even protest when he was tugged to sit down between his legs, all while Taiga ran his tongue the length of his neck.

With two full grown people in the tub, the water reached the rim with several splashes hitting the floor, but he didn't seem to care as Taiga placed his hand on his forehead and coaxed his head back to lean against his shoulder. The entire time, he had never stopped his kissing of his neck and as one of Taiga's arms wrapped around his chest, he finally released the moan he had tried to swallow.

"Seems like you like this just as much as I do." Taiga said, his voice vibrating against Daiki's neck as he scooped some water up to cover his glowing darker skin.

"It almost feels electric." Daiki nodded, but kept his head back against Taiga's shoulder.

Taiga quietly laughed, "This is how you made me feel... It makes you feel vulnerable doesn't it." He said, scooping another handful down Daiki's chest before running his palm over the muscle to wash away the smears of blood that had soaked through his shirt.

"Yeah... I'm sorry." Daiki exhaled, every ounce of resistance that he might have put up beading off of him just like the water running down his chest.

"Don't be."

Daiki softly moaned again when Taiga reached across his chest to cup his chin, turning his head just enough to capture a portion of his lips with his own. He sharply inhaled as he reached up to cup Taiga's cheek, pressing himself further back into his chest and the water, oddly enough, started to feel cold against his skin from how hot _he_ was.

After several moments, Daiki parted their lips with a soft break, flicking his eyes up to meet crimson that was half-lidded and hazy with want.

"What if we make a break for the dagger?" Daiki asked suddenly, sitting up enough to free Taiga from beneath him.

Taiga's brows lightly furrowed, "What?... What do you mean?" He asked, letting his hand fall from Daiki's chin to run down his arm with a finger.

"What if we go for it and we use it? We could wish to bring back the Drakes... You wouldn't be alone anymore." Daiki said, taking Taiga's hand to hold it against his chest, over his heart.

Taiga's breath caught in his throat, "D-Daiki-... I-It's not that simple. W-We would need a heart-"

"You have mine... Take mine. We can get the dagger and you can pierce mine." Daiki interrupted him, pressing Taiga's hand harder into his chest.

Taiga furiously shook his head, "No-... No, that's not an option!" His eyes were wide as they began to shake with quickly building emotion.

Filled with instant regret, Daiki sat up and turned himself just enough to make it easy to grasp both sides of Taiga's neck, brushing his thumbs along his jaw as his dark blue eyes softened and his lips parted.

"Hey... Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry... I don't know how this thing works, but apparently, it's not how you'd want." He said, licking his lips before pressing a moderately firm kiss to Taiga's lips.

Taiga returned the kiss as he grasped a small handful of Daiki's hair on the nape of his neck, but he couldn't stop himself from lightly shaking at the thought. He shook his head despite their lips still being connected, but after several moments, they separated and allowed him to talk.

"The person whose heart needs to be pierced to make that wish come true... is mine." Taiga said, his eyes beginning to sting as they rested their foreheads together.

Daiki sucked in a sharp breath, "That's not happening. There's gotta be another that we can use to bring back the Drakes." He said, swallowing down the small lump in his throat as he ran his hand down Taiga's cheek and not stopping until he reached his shoulder.

Taiga shook his head as he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, "No... The dagger requires a heart with meaning; That has something to do with the wish the wielder wants it to grant. To bring back the Drakes, you need a Drake's heart."

Daiki closed his eyes, "What happens to you if it's pierced?"

"Amalphia is the goddess of life and soul... The heart is the embodiment of that. I remember when I was a hatchling that some would offer her hearts to bless their clutches. That's what she wants; To grant a wish, you must offer her a heart." He said, his hazy crimson eyes turning down as he spoke.

Daiki opened his eyes, "You'll die." He mouthed, but they were close enough for Taiga hear it anyways.

"Yeah... No wish is without sacrifice and the Dragon Goddess Amalphia is no different. To bring back the Drakes... She'll take me away from you." Taiga said, his eyes shimmering with heavy moisture as he stared deep into dark blue.

Daiki had never felt his heart hurt so much. The quickest flash of any image in his mind was enough to make him cringe with pain. He couldn't stomach the thought of losing Taiga, of using him as a sacrifice for a wish he really didn't care about. All he wanted was for Taiga to be happy, but at that cost, he wasn't sure he was willing to pay it.

"A wyvren's heart won't work?" Daiki asked, pressing his lips to just under Taiga's eye to kiss away a barely there tear.

"No... A wyvren has nothing invested in wanting to bring the Drakes back. Only you and I do. The heart has to be invested," he briefly smiled, "It was a thoughtful wish, but one that would only come about with tragedy." Taiga said, nuzzling into Daiki's cheek as he held him close.

"I just don't want you to be alone anymore, Taiga. I want you to feel like you belong somewhere." Daiki said lowly, placing another kiss to under his other eye.

"I do... I do belong somewhere. You gave that to me." Taiga said, continuing to nuzzle Daiki's cheek as his fingers caressed the nape of his neck to play with the small hairs.

Daiki pulled away from him just enough to bring him into focus, to see how heavy his crimson eyes were and how they looked at him with what he swore was mirth and admiration out from underneath his long, luscious lashes. He actually looked scared, fearful at the thought that there was no way to grant him that wish without ripping them apart and at his words, he realized that Taiga didn't want that.

"I gave you more than I thought I had... If I could give you everything, I would." Daiki said in a near whisper, resting his forehead back down to return the soft and gentle nuzzles.

"What all is left to give?" Taiga asked, brushing his fingertips down Daiki's cheek to run them softly over his jaw all the way to his lips.

Daiki pressed his lips to the pads of Taiga's fingers before opening his mouth to speak, but there were no words. There was just air, softly exhaling to flight over Taiga's face like a breeze so soft that it was barely there. He really had given him everything and that included the very thing that was rapidly beating inside his chest.

"There's nothing... You have it all," his breath stuttered, "How sad is that? That I gave it all to someone who's not even my species." Daiki said, huffing a sad laugh as he leaned into Taiga's form just to be closer.

Taiga swallowed, "Don't say that... Please." He said, biting his bottom lip as he started to slouch down into the tub and pull Daiki back on top of him.

With being partially turned, Daiki flipped over, putting them chest to chest as their lips touched in an ultra slow, almost timid kiss that was void of tongue and breath. Neither wanted to move too much, too fast, out of fear that if they did, the other would get spooked and run away like before. Daiki could feel Taiga's racing heart through his own chest, and it was beating so fast, so hard that it thumped against his own like someone knocking on a door. Both their hearts were racing and as Daiki's hand drifted down Taiga's side, completely consumed with the rising heat to feel him, to touch him, the man beneath him yelped and flinched when he reached the healing burn on his thigh.

"Shit!... I'm sorry... Are you okay?" Daiki reeled, instantly moving his hand and sitting up to look down at Taiga cringing from the sting in his leg.

"I'm fine... You didn't mean it." Taiga said, blowing out a stiff breath, but still managed to smile up at him reassuringly.

Daiki smiled, "I suppose we should get cleaned up before the coals go out and the water gets cold." He said, placing his palm against Taiga's cheek that he nuzzled into with soft lips.

With Taiga's nod as his answer, Daiki sat back on his heels and found the rag floating forgotten in the tub. He picked it up without bothering to ring it out as he ran it over Taiga's skin, paying particular attention to his legs below his knees. He washed away the dirt and grime, getting between his toes as Taiga just leaned back and watched him with half-lidded eyes. His lips were pulled up slightly into a persistent smile and it never faded, even when Daiki wet the rag and rung it out over his hair.

Once Taiga was cleaned, it was his turn as Taiga pushed him to lean back against the edge of the tub just like he had been. He didn't resist at all when Taiga used his hands to cup the water over his skin, running his palms over his muscles on his chest, his arms, his legs. He focused on breathing when his hands ran the length of his legs, but Taiga had seen the slightest flinch and made an effort to avoid getting to close to Daiki's slightly hardened member at the intimate contact. He smiled in appreciation and when Taiga scooted in close between his knees to wash his hair, he hunched forward and rested his forehead against his chest.

The blood, dirt and grime gone, they stood from the tub, letting the water rain down from their bodies for a moment before reaching for a couple of plain towels that hung on the nearby hooks. Daiki's smile broadened as he scrubbed Taiga's hair, his throat rumbling with a gentle laugh as Taiga returned the favor and once they were dried, both wrapping the towels around their waists before they cleaned their clothes in the tub and hung them to dry.

"It feels wonderful to be clean." Taiga smiled wide as he fell back onto the bed with his arms above his head and the towel hanging low around his hips.

Daiki stood a moment to admire him before crawling onto the bed beside him, laying down on his side with his head cradled in his hand. He drifted his fingers over Taiga's chest as his smile softened and their eyes met, but he made no effort to move as he laid still and let Daiki study him.

"It feels like real skin." Daiki said, shifting his eyes to let them run the lines of Taiga's firms muscles that sculpted his chest.

"It is real skin. It's just not thick like my natural hide." Taiga said, his eyes soft and lips breathlessly parted.

"Is all of it more sensitive like this?" Daiki asked, finding that he was genuinely curious as his fingers continued to roam.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... Remember when we compared scars? When you touched the ones under my wing?"

Daiki just nodded.

"I barely felt that... But this-" the muscles of his abs twitched and flexed as Daiki's fingers traced around them, "I feel every graze of your fingers." He said, his voice airy as his breath left his lungs in short stutters from the sensation of someone touching him so softly.

"And this?" Daiki asked, his eyes drawing down as he ran a long, unbroken line through the center valley of Taiga's abs all the way up to his collarbone.

Taiga swallowed and nodded as his breath came faster, "Yeah... It's kind of intoxicating."

Daiki smiled, "I bet... To go from barely feeling anything to this... It's gotta be a shock." He said as his finger dipped into the hollow of Taiga's neck.

When Taiga's whole torso burst with gooseflesh, Daiki smiled with a bit of pride that it was he who caused it. Taiga trapped his bottom lip between his teeth, but he never looked away as Daiki bowed his head and placed a soft kiss to his left pectoral.

"Every touch goes right through me like a drug... Drakes are tactile and this," he swallowed, "this muddies the mind." Taiga said, laying still and just trying to keep his breathing steady as Daiki's lips left a trail of kisses along his collarbone.

"Let me know if it's too much." Daiki said before giving his mouth complete control.

Taiga airily moaned as Daiki's lips and tongue licked his collarbone's full length, leaving behind a hot trail that instantly cooled and made him shiver from head to toe. He threw his head back into the bed with a gasp, allowing Daiki full access to his neck that he wasted no time in paying attention to. The gentle kisses and licks made Taiga shiver even more as he concentrated on staying still, but it was out of a mild fear of what it could lead to if he did. Just getting to lay there and feel Daiki's feather light touches and kisses and breath made him forget his own mind all together.

It wasn't until his earlobe was softly captured between a set of teeth that he finally opened his eyes, his mouth soft and breathless as he sucked in a desperate gulp of air. His whole body was alight with heat that burned almost as hot as his own flames and with another harsh shiver that fizzed low in his abdomen, Taiga flinched and moaned.

"S-Stop-" Taiga exhaled, squeezing his eyes shut as he moaned again and tried to catch his breath with futile attempts.

That was all he needed to hear as Daiki stopped, releasing the lobe from between his teeth as he leaned away, but left his hand resting on Taiga's chest to feel his stuttering heart.

"You alright?" Daiki asked, wetting his lips that were slightly swollen from their use.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... It's just a lot to take in. I'm so sensitive right now that you could breathe on me and it would flood me until I overflowed." He said, his words wispy and colored with his breath as he lolled his head to the other side to meet Daiki's eyes.

"Hopefully you won't have to endure it for too much longer. Your power will be back soon." Daiki said, his smile dropping from his face as he slightly clawed his fingers into Taiga's skin.

"D-Do you not like me like this?" Taiga asked, his brows furrowing mildly as he began to feel that pang of self-consciousness rising in his chest.

Daiki's eyes widened, "No! Uh, that's not what I meant... I frankly adore it," he gulped, "But it's not my choice to tell you which form to take. I'll understand if you wanna go back to being a dragon." He said, his voice betraying the emotion that he was trying to hide.

"Maybe I don't want to. My natural form has brought me nothing, but misery and loneliness for 230 years and I'm so tired of it, Daiki... I told you I'm tired of hiding and I hadn't realized in my own stubbornness that being like this... It's freeing." Taiga said, drawing in a smooth and deep breath that filled out his chest, but he still refrained from moving; He was just too comfortable.

Daiki's soft smile returned as he moved his palm to Taiga's cheek, "I want it to be your decision. It's gotta be what you want."

Taiga just nodded as he held Daiki's gaze, leaning into his touch that made him feel warm all over. It would be his decision, but in just the brief couple of days that had passed since first taking his Human form, he was realizing that he didn't have to waste a year of his life stuck in a cell because of his own stubbornness. Getting to feel Daiki's touch, how warm his lips were against his skin and just feeling in general was making it hard to decide. His heart thumped harder with every thought that Daiki was so willing to make his life better, even if it meant his own, but there was no way, no chance that Taiga was going to let that happen. They would go for the Dagger of Amalphia, but his wish wouldn't be to bring back the Drakes, but rather, something closer to his own heart.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Author's Note: Just to let you all know, I am seeing your reviews. :) FFN is having review displaying issues, so hopefully it gets fixed soon. Thank you all for reading and reviewing! 3**

The morning air was crisp, hovering like a fog over the town from the rising moisture that drifted up from the trees, but it would eventually become a warm day the later the hour got. Residence whom called the town home were already starting their days, opening their shops and stoking their furnaces. The streets were becoming full with those coming and going, but inside the inn that doubled as the tavern, Daiki and Taiga saw none of it.

They lay curled in close beneath the blankets, facing each other with their arms loosely wrapped around the other. Taiga's forehead rested against Daiki's chest and their legs were threaded through and around like a tangled knot of roots, yet they still wore their towels around their hips to keep themselves covered. There had been no more kissing, no more sensual touches, but rather, they had fallen into a companionable silence as they just stared into each others eyes until the sky had long since turned black with night. Only the candle on the small table lit their room until they just fell asleep and let the candle burn down.

Now, with the sun's rays beginning to touch the milky window, Daiki took in a deep inhale as his eyes began to open. His lashes hung low as his eyes focused, taking in the splash of crimson just beneath his chin. He tightened his hold around him to bring him closer, trying not to sigh with delight at the feel of his warm skin against his own as he placed his lips to that very hair for a gentle, lingering kiss. However, when he felt a long exhale of heated breath against his bare chest, he knew the other man was beginning to wake.

"Morning." Daiki said lowly, pulling his lips away and loosening his hold so Taiga could look up at him.

Taiga hummed as he lazily smiled, "Morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Better than I have in a long time." Daiki said, brushing aside Taiga's hair from his face.

"Me too... I like sleeping in a bed." Taiga said, exhale another smile as his leg threaded a bit further between Daiki's so he could get closer.

Daiki returned the smile, "I like sleeping in a bed next to you."

Taiga bit his lip as he shied into his own shoulders, feeling the rising heat in his cheeks from a firm blush. Never had such sweet words been said to him and just hearing them in Daiki's low tone made him shiver, which only made it known to him.

"Not used to such sweet words, are you." Daiki said, fluttering his hand down Taiga's neck to softly grip the nape of his neck.

Taiga shook his head, "No. Most people just call me 'dumb animal', or 'stupid dragon'. I like your words a lot better."

"I'll never call you those names... Maybe if I'm feeling playful, but I'll never say them with such disdain like that." Daiki said as he bowed his head to capture Taiga's full lips.

Both sucked in long breaths as the tips of their noses pressed into their cheeks, their lips staying motionless, but only long enough for Taiga to scoot up to eye level. Their eyes closed as their lips began to move, Taiga's shifting down to take Daiki's lower lip between his teeth where he softly sucked on it to pull a soft moan from the other man's throat.

"Gods I love that." Daiki said through their kiss, his tongue slicking over Taiga's upper lip to test the waters.

Feeling the hot wetness of Daiki's tongue, Taiga released the bottom lip to open his mouth with the desire to taste what he was offering. His tongue jutted out to greet the other and the moment he tasted the tangy profile of Daiki's saliva, his whole body shuttered with a pleasing warmth that vibrated so hard, it made Daiki chuckle.

"Is this just as sensitive?" Daiki asked, his words being swallowed down as their tongues ran long, exploratory lines over the other.

Taiga nodded as he pressed his hand into Daiki's chest, forcing their lips to part ways so he could gulp down air to help him steady his head. His eyes were blurry and he lightly panted as he fell closer to Daiki, only stopping when the tips of their noses touched with the same sensation as a butterfly's wings.

"My mouth is normally slicked with thick saliva to help protect it against my flames. It takes away a lot of feeling, but like this-" he gulped, "I'm sorry... It's gonna take me some time to get used to." Taiga said, holding his breath for a moment to help himself calm down as he fluttered his fingers down Daiki's cheek to his chin.

"It's okay... I'm just a bit eager I guess. I've never really... felt this way before. Intimacy like this was always just a tool for me, but that's not how it is with you. It's different." Daiki said as he sat up and scrubbed the sleep from his face.

Taiga rolled into his back and raised his arms above his head, tucking one beneath his head to prop it up as he studied Daiki's back. It was long and riddled with so much muscle that bulged as he stretched, that he had to bite down on his own lips to keep from moaning just at the sight of it. He silently admitted to himself that despite being born a Drake, quite literally hatched, Daiki was an exquisite Human specimen born from a mother.

However, as he scanned the expanse of his back, his crimson eyes set onto a long scar that crossed his back from his shoulder blades all the way down to the small of his back on the other side of his spine. It was a smooth mark and very old, made in a single motion, but by what, he could only guess as he reached out and trailed his fingers along the scar that made Daiki sit up straighter and look back at him.

"What's this?" Taiga asked, flicking his eyes away from the scar to meet Daiki's.

"The result of a bad day." Daiki said, producing a crooked smirk as he just sat and watched Taiga.

"What made it?" Taiga asked, his fingers reaching the scar's end on the small of his back.

"Whip." Daiki said.

Taiga's brows furrowed, "A whip? Were you punished?"

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... I was thirteen and I got caught stealing from a vendor in the town square. I got whipped over a loaf of bread."

"What?... Why did they whip you for being hungry?" Taiga asked, his brows drawn down hard at the thought of a young Daiki being tied to a post and whipped like an animal.

Daiki shrugged, "Who knows. I was lucky it was just one lashing, but-" his eyes shifted away, "It was who did it that left a lasting impression." He looked forward and down at his hands in his lap.

His brows still furrowed, Taiga sat up, resting his whole hand on Daiki's back as he used his other to cup the man's chin. It only took a gentle nudge to get him to look back up, and when blue met red, Taiga tilted his head forward to rest his forehead against his.

"Who made it?" Taiga whispered, his eyes half-lidded as the hand on Daiki's back slowly drifted up.

"Shoichi Imayoshi did."

Taiga gasped, "Your Captain?"

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... He was a kid too, but he was a couple years older than me. He was opening up his father's bakery stand when I tried taking one. I hadn't eaten in a couple days and I remember how hungry I was, but... it clouded my head and I wasn't smart about it, so he caught me. He said if I accepted being whipped, then I could keep the loaf and starving like I was, I agreed." He licked his lips as he gripped the nape of Taiga's neck just to feel as if he was closer.

"He pulled a trick." Taiga said in a whisper.

Again, Daiki nodded, "The guards tied me to a post in the center of town and tore my shirt off. It was so hot that day that my skin instantly felt like it was burning, but I was left there to cook like they were drying meat on a rack. Hours went by and he just watched me, how red my skin got from being sunburned so badly, but that's when he got a whip. My skin was so dry, so burnt from the day that when he cracked it against my back like he had been using a whip for decades, my skin split like a dried leaf and I screamed. I screamed so loud that Nat heard me all the way from the tavern and that's the first time I met her." He said, his voice distant as he told his memory.

"He tortured you." Taiga said, lifting his head to place his lips to Daiki's forehead.

"Yeah... All it was gonna take was one lashing, but he waited and waited until the time was right. After it was done, he gave me the loaf of bread and just walked off while Nat untied me and covered me with a wet cloth that she had dunked in a trough. It was cold and it felt like heaven when she wrapped it around me and took me back to the tavern. It took days just for me to sit up without the pain and months for it to fully heal and the whole time, I never touched that loaf of bread." Daiki said, opening his eyes just enough to look at Taiga through his lashes.

"Then why do you let him touch you? Why be used as a tool by him?" Taiga asked, his eyes saddened as he grazed the tip of his nose over Daiki's cheek.

"Because he's insatiable. It doesn't matter to him; Man... Woman... He doesn't care, so long as he can get his dick wet. I'm where I'm at because I've let him touch me and it got me off the streets. I don't regret what I've done because I can eat and have a bed to sleep in." Daiki said as he tilted his head to place a kiss to Taiga's jaw.

Taiga's chest hurt as he pulled away from him, his hands falling away to press into the bed. His eyes were sad as he licked his lips and looked away from him and his heart ached with a steady beat at the thought of what Daiki would do once they returned to the Crimson Kingdom. It physically made him hurt just thinking that the Captain would lay his hands on Daiki again, and rising with that dread, was anger and the want to end the man's life.

However, he wasn't granted much time to think as Daiki's hand came up to cup his cheek, earning back his gaze as their eyes met. Dark blue scanned his face for just a breath before he leaned in to capture his lips, and it was in that short, minuscule amount of time that Taiga felt as if Daiki had read his mind. He reached up to grasp Daiki's wrist as their lips slowly, sensually danced, but too soon, Daiki's lips were gone, leaving him feeling exposed.

"He will never touch me again... Not ever. You're the only one I wanna feel against me whether it be as a dragon, or a man." Daiki said, pressing his lips down once again.

Taiga held his breath as he kissed back, but again, he pulled away to nuzzle his forehead against Daiki's temple.

"I'll kill him if he touches you... I won't hesitate." He said, taking in slow, even breaths to calm his heart.

"And I'll let you. Eat him for all I care." Daiki said, wrapping his arm around Taiga's shoulder to pull him closer.

"Human is gamey" Taiga said as he started to laugh.

Daiki's lower tone soon joined as both just held each other, laughing into the others shoulder and it was such a relief that Taiga lifted his head just to see the glow on Daiki's face. His eyes were narrowed from the smile that reached them and the morning sun's rays even made them glint with admiration, highlighting their deep blue color that made them look like tiny trapped oceans. He had flown over massive bodies of water, had even swam in them, but none of the oceans he had seen could hold a candle to this man's eyes.

Placing his hand against Daiki's cheek, Taiga returned the beaming smile, but with those same morning rays of yellow sun, he knew that if they were to make any progress of making for the fisher, than they would need to get started.

"We should get ready to go. Who knows how far that fisher is." He said before placing one last kiss and scooting to the edge of the bed.

"It's a ways. Couple of days walk. We've gotta get you some boots, we'll need weapons and other supplies too. We probably won't be ready until tonight." Daiki said as he stood and removed his towel without a care that Taiga was staring right at him.

"What about reporting to the Crimson Kingdom? Are you still wanting to do that?" Taiga asked, accepting his pants and shirt that Daiki had taken off the hooks and offered to him.

"Lets hold off for now. I don't want them asking too many questions about why it's taking so long." Daiki said as he pulled up his pants and tied the drawstring, securing them to his hips.

"You don't want them finding out about me." Taiga said as he did the same and pulled on his makeshift shirt that he let hang open while he tied the drawstring.

"The Crimson King himself will come for you. That I can promise." Daiki said, all amusement gone as he shot a glance back over his shoulder before pulling his shirt on over his head.

"He hates Drakes?" Taiga asked.

Daiki nodded as he adjusted his shirt to hang square over his shoulders, "Yes... He's always viewed them as lesser beings and has always desired to hunt one. He even schedules wyvren hunts once a month just to play as if he's actually getting to slay one."

Taiga's brows furrowed, "I'm not game to be hunted."

Hearing the tinge of pain in his voice, Daiki wheeled around and wrapped Taiga up in his arms before another word could be said. He could feel how tight Taiga's muscles were, but the longer he held him, the more the tension seemed to ease as he relaxed into the embrace.

"I know that and I'm the only one that matters. The Crimson King will never know you exist and if that means I never go back, than fine. I'll take this secret to my grave." Daiki said into his ear before placing a kiss to its shell.

Taiga pressed himself into the kiss, "No graves... This won't end that way." He gripped the back of Daiki's neck.

"Not if I have something to say about it." Daiki said before releasing his hold.

Taiga exhaled a smile as Daiki returned to dressing, picking up his boots and sitting down on the edge of his bed to pull them on. He looked down at his own feet, which were bare and he wiggled his toes as his mouth twitched to the side.

"I guess I'm dressed." Taiga grumbled as he just stared down at his feet.

"It's gonna be our first stop. I'm not trudging out into the forest with you being barefoot." Daiki said as he finished tying his boots.

Taiga just smiled as he decided to pack up what little things they had, packing the coin sac, the few medical supplies from dressing the burn on his thigh and a canteen of water into the saddle bags before buckling them closed. He checked the straps that held the bedroll firm to the bags, and once he was satisfied that everything they had was packed, a strong arm snaked around his waist and tugged him back into a firm chest.

"Ready to go?" Daiki's voice whispered into his ear before placing a tender kiss to his temple.

Taiga hummed and leaned back into him, "Yeah... Lead on."

Daiki took the bags from him and started for the door while Taiga followed, checking the blue silken scarf still around his wrist that hid his fresh bandages. He followed him down the stairs to the bar where Daiki paid for a few days worth of rations, being fruits, vegetables and breads that could keep for awhile without worry of spoiling. It was easy enough to get meat, as he had proven that the day before and when he had packed everything up and stepped out into the warming day's sun, Taiga shielded his eyes from the brightness with a hand.

The whole town was bustling, making it a bit of a chore to wind their way through to find a place to buy Taiga a pair of boots. They passed several stores until arriving at a leatherworker's shop, being manned by a rather young boy with a thick apron on whom turned out to be the shop owner's son. He quickly took Taiga's measurements and checked the back room to see if a pair was already made, but when he returned empty handed, Taiga frowned.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but it'll take me a bit to craft the boots. Do you have time to wait?" The boy asked, his eyes rather worried that Daiki, Taiga, or both, were about to tear into him.

"How long do you think?" Daiki asked as he fished around in their bags for his coin.

"A couple of hours. My father has fresh cured leather in the back, so I can cut the forms from that. They won't be fancy, but they'll work." The boy said as he picked at his fingernails.

"They don't need to be fancy. They're boots." Daiki cracked a lopsided smile.

"Aye, Sir. I should have them ready in a couple of hours." The boy bowed.

Daiki paid the boy half the cost of the boots before heading out of the shop with Taiga right by his side, stepping down onto the bone dry dirt, but as Daiki turned to head to another shop to buy a few weapons, he felt fingers lace between his.

He glanced down to see their hands locked together with fingers intertwined and it made him smile as he looked up to meet Taiga's endearing gaze. His hands were surprisingly soft, unlike his that were calloused from work and being a rider. He lightly cringed that Taiga would find his palms uncomfortable, but when his grip slightly tightened, he felt like that wasn't the case.

They walked hand in hand until they reached a blacksmith with his billowing furnace and the sounds of a hammer striking molten metal. It was sweltering hot, so much so that Daiki's forehead instantly began to slick itself with sweat, but when he heard a delighted exhale, he caught the look of shock flash across Taiga's face.

"You okay?" Daiki asked quietly as he released his hand.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... Just sensitive remember?"

Daiki nodded and briefly gripped the nape of Taiga's neck for an endearing caress before taking it back and returning to the task at hand.

"Got a couple swords for sale?" He asked as he set his bags down on a table heavy with blacksmithing tools.

"Just some cheap shorties. Pretty much got bought out yesterday after the bell." The robust man said, clad in heavy leather to protect himself against the raging flames of the stone furnace.

"That's fine. Three please... If you have it." Daiki said, but turned his attention towards Taiga when he poked his arm.

"I don't know how to use a sword all that well." Taiga admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with embarrassment.

Daiki blew out a long breath, "Shit... Do you know how to use anything?" He asked, not sounding angry, or judgmental at all, but rather just trying to get a feel for what their options were.

Taiga just shook his head.

Daiki groaned as he gripped the meat of his shoulder. He had hoped that Taiga would have some knowledge from having been around for 230 years, but that didn't seem to be the case. It meant that he was the only one whom could use a sword, and with Taiga's fire their only other weapon and being forced to hide it, he had to come up with something.

However, that's when an idea popped into his head when he saw another type of weapon leaning propped up against the wall.

"Hey... Just those two swords and that staff over there." Daiki said as he pulled his coin sac and started counting out pieces.

"Thirty." The blacksmith said as he pulled the staff from the wall and handed it to Taiga.

Daiki cringed at the cost, but counting out thirty pieces and trying not to frown at the ten they had left, he handed them over and took the belt that suspended both short swords and wrapped it around his hips.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this? Walk?" Taiga grumbled as he ran his eyes up and down the staff that was as tall as he was.

The blacksmith arced a brow at the crimson haired man with strangely split eyebrows, but he never got a chance to say anything as Daiki grabbed his available hand and rushed from the shop.

"Hey!... Daiki!... Quit pulling so hard! Where are we going?" Taiga growled, curling the corner of his upper lip, but still with the staff firmly gripped in his hand.

Daiki didn't answer as he ducked into an alley that was void of any people before finally releasing his hand and turning around to face him.

"Just hear me out... Why not try using it to hide the fact that you can breathe fire?" Daiki asked, only to received a confused look from the other man.

"Huh?" Taiga arced a brow.

"A mage... Play it off that it's your power staff and that's how you can breathe fire. Play it off that you're a mage." Daiki said, his eyes wide and hopeful.

Taiga stood up straighter as he studied the staff once more, "Won't people get suspicious that it only ever comes out of my mouth?"

"Easy... Just say it's your thing if anyone asks, but that way, we don't have to explain it and you can use it without having to kiss everything... which was kinda cool." Daiki smirked as he placed his hands on his hips and grinned.

Taiga cracked a smile, "You saw that?" He gripped the meat of his shoulder.

"Yeah... It was awesome. It was one hell of a Kiss of Death." Daiki said, taking a step closer to him.

Taiga bit his bottom lip, "I almost thought you'd be mad."

Daiki took another step, "Not at all... I'd only be mad if you did it to me." Another step.

Taiga's breath stuttered as Daiki came within half a step of him, close enough for his hypersensitive skin to feel every exhale that blew out through his nose. He held his breath to hide the inevitable shiver, but far too soon, his lungs started to plea and he couldn't ignore it.

"You do this on purpose." Taiga said, softly gasping when Daiki puckered his lips just enough to blow an intentional blow of air across his neck.

Daiki grinned as he watched Taiga's skin grow a soft layer of tiny bumps where he had blown, filling him with a bit of pride that made his eyes glint with mischief.

"Maybe a little bit." He smiled wider.

"Asshole." Taiga breathed out, swallowing down his own breath to curb the soft moan that was desperate to leave his throat.

"Little bit." Daiki smiled, licking his lips as he leaned in close enough to brush their noses together.

Taiga was going cross-eyed from the sensations against his skin, but he knew he had to push passed it. The way Daiki's breath made him feel hot all over, how it sent shiver after shiver down his spine that was pushed along by his heartbeat all served to make it hard to stand. He needed to get his head back in the game, or he ran the of risk taking the man right then and there, but at that single thought, Taiga decided that Daiki's idea wasn't half bad.

With a short intake of air, Taiga puffed a short blow of fire right into Daiki's face that was only enough to make him flinch and lean back. None of his hair was even singed from the quick flame, but when someone gasped from the mouth of the alleyway, Taiga arced a brow at the man before looking back over his shoulder to see a woman staring at them with wide eyes.

"Mage." Taiga said simply and without even a flinch in his aggressive expression.

The woman immediately smiled and nodded before heading off, and the moment she was gone, Taiga immediately breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

"See? I told you it would work." Daiki said, still grinning despite scrubbing his face from the quick fire blast.

"Uh huh... And you're being a dick for playing around with my hypersensitivity." Taiga said, his eyebrow still arced high over its eye.

Daiki innocently shrugged, "It's kinda hot."

"Not in an alleyway." Taiga groaned and plopped his face into his hand as he turned and started for the mouth of the alley.

Daiki snickered as he started after him, catching up just as Taiga stepped back out into the sun and heard the slightest intake of air as he worked to force back the moan from the delightful heat. He couldn't stop the smirk as they made their way towards the leatherworker's shop and once they stepped inside, they sat down on a bench to wait until Taiga's boots were done.

They settled into light conversation as they people watched out the front windows, how nobody was the wiser that just on the other side of those very windows, sat a Drake. Word must have gotten around that a mage was in town and when a small group of young children came into the shop, having noticed Taiga because of the woman's description of his split eyebrows, they were regaled with a small light show.

Curling his hand into an O, he placed it over his mouth to hide that he was actually producing the flame with his own body and puffed out a small flash that lit a candle held in a small boy's hands. They all cheered and beamed at the display, all believing Taiga to be a mage, and at their joy of getting to see such magic, Taiga couldn't help, but smile in return.

After a few more impressive displays of lighting more candles and making a ball of paper turn to ash outside, the leatherworker's son returned with a pair of freshly made, knee high boots. He was conditioning the leather so that it was moist, pulling them hard down over a form to stretch them out a bit before having Taiga try them on. He did and tied them, handing the staff to Daiki to hold as he took a few steps and bounced to see how they flexed. The left one felt just right, but the right was just on this side of pinching into the top of his ankle.

"Could you stretch the right one out a hair?" Taiga asked as he sat back down and untied the right boot.

"Of course, Sir. It'll be just a moment." The boy said as he took the boot into the back.

He and Daiki shared a short glance before Daiki rose to his feet and clapped a hand down on Taiga's shoulder, leaning over to place a kiss to his temple where he whispered that he'd be right back. Taiga tilted his head in question, but seeing Daiki's, he just nodded and watched as he stepped out of the shop.

Taiga returned to people watching for a bit until the boy returned with the boot, having freshly stretched the ankle and handed it to him to try back on. He slipped his foot inside and tied it back up, matching the same snugness as the left before he stood and performed the same tests. It felt much better and with a curt nod at the boy and a thank you, Taiga grabbed his staff from leaning against the wall where Daiki had put it, and stepped out with freshly clad feet.

He stood in the street and looked around, trying to spot where Daiki had gone, but he couldn't see him in the crowd. He had thought it would be easy to spot a darker skinned, blue haired male whom was nearly a head taller than most everyone, but that was proving to be easier said than done. He furrowed his brows as he continued to look around, but when a firm tap came down on his shoulder, his head whipped to the other side to come face to face with that very male.

"How do they feel?" Daiki asked as he handed a waddled bundle into Taiga's hand.

"New... Very new." Taiga said, unfurling the bundle to reveal it to be a cloak that he slung over his shoulders and tied on.

"Good," he dug through his bags, "Here... Put these on. They'll protect your feet from the fresh leather." Daiki said, handing Taiga a pair of socks.

Taiga smiled as Daiki took the staff, freeing his hands as he leaned back against a wall and took one boot off at a time. The socks were thick and warm, definitely capable of protecting his feet against the abrasiveness of freshly made boots and after tying them back on, he took back the staff and their preparations were finally done.

"Ready? We've got a long way to go." Daiki said, softly smiling as he slung their bags over a shoulder.

"Yeah. Lead on... I don't know the area." Taiga said.

Placing his hand down on Taiga's shoulder for a moment, Daiki headed for the main gate with the other man right by his side. The children Taiga had entertained waved goodbye, all still beaming wide as they mimicked his mnemonic of curling his hand around his mouth and pretending they too could blow fire. He couldn't help, but smile at it, as in his long 230 years, no one had ever dreamed of being able to do what he could. It warmed his heart.

The town behind them, the pair headed for the treeline nearby, disappearing into the shadows of the canopy that was holding the sun's rays at bay. The air instantly cooled, so much so that both lightly shivered from the blast of cooler air, but with the cloaks that Daiki had purchased for them, it was soon gone as they trudged through the trees.

As they walked, Taiga followed a few strides behind, following Daiki's path footstep for footstep. He stepped over roots and skirted around trees, using his staff to help steady him whenever he needed to climb up and ease the ache in his right thigh. The limp was gone, but if his muscles flexed too much, the burn screamed and without the comfort of being in town, aggravating it was not in either of their best interests.

It had felt like it had taken them hours, but eventually, they reached the edge of a high cliff that overlooked a huge swath of the forest with its canopy woven so tightly, that it was impossible to see through it. They could hear the far off sounds of creatures, ranging from birds, to worgs, and when a long, drawn out howl sounded from somewhere deep beneath the trees, Daiki looked over at Taiga just in time to see him gulp.

"You gonna be alright?" Daiki asked, raising his hand to place it along the side of Taiga's neck.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... I don't know... I just feel like that so long as we're together, we'll win." He said, looking over and providing him with a soft smile.

"They won't touch you." Daiki said, brushing his thumb along Taiga's jaw.

"I can do it, Daiki... I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but I can do it. I'm not weak." He said, his voice even and smooth, void of any threat, or anger.

"I know. I'll back off." Daiki said.

Taiga just nodded as Daiki leaned in close and pressed their lips together for a motionless kiss that eased any sort of tension that had formed from the long distance howl of a worg. He appreciated that Daiki was so willing to let him stand on his own two feet as it were and when he broke their kiss, his eyes were captured by his that were filled with mirth.

"I can't get stronger if you don't let me." He said in a near whisper.

"You're right. I'm treating you like a wyvren and I shouldn't... I trust you." Daiki said, finally taking his hand away from Taiga's neck.

Taiga smiled, "Thank you."

Returning the smile, Daiki sighed and returned his attention to finding a way down the cliff with as little difficulty as possible. The cliff was a sheer drop down and without the ability to fly, they were left with finding another way and that came in the form of a long series of rocky platforms that jutted out from the cliff face.

With the sun dipping low in the sky, crawling nearer and nearer to the trees, they needed to work fast and with Taiga's right leg still not quite up to snuff, it was a challenge to descend the cliff. Daiki would drop down first before reaching up to catch Taiga's staff, freeing up both his hands to grip the vines to help lower himself to the next platform. One after another, they worked as a team and just as the sun set, ducking behind the far off mountains, they dropped down from the last platform into the darkness of the deep forest.

"It's getting dark. We should make camp." Daiki said, gripping his knees to recover his breath from the lengthy climb down.

Taiga nodded as he pressed his hand into his aching thigh and looked around, scanning for any sign of threatening creatures that they had unknowingly dropped in on. All he saw was trees, tall and dark, cast in an unrelenting shadow by the impenetrable canopy overhead. With the sky clear of clouds, the need for a firm shelter was further down the list, but finding something to help shield them from any possible predator was still high. Anything to cover their backs would work and as he peered down the cliff's edge, his eyes spotted a divot in the rock, tucked into a corner that was deep enough to shield them on two sides.

"Hey, Daiki... Over there." He said, leaning on his staff as he motioned with his chin towards the divot.

Daiki stood up with his hands on his hips, "Good eye... That'll work."

Their entire bodies were exhausted, completely spent from their long trek through the forest. They were tired and in the day's fading light, they fell back onto the ground and leaned up against the rock just to stay sitting up.

"Fuck... That's hard work." Daiki said, blowing out a tired breath as he leaned over to bring their shoulders into contact.

"How do you Humans do it?" Taiga exhaled as his head lolled over to rest against Daiki's temple.

"Usually with a dragon." Daiki huffed a crooked grin.

Taiga chuckled, "Technically, you still did."

"Shut up." Daiki smiled.

Both chuckled at their little exchange, just leaning against each other as they caught their breath. They could feel their muscles cooling off with the chilling of the air, and with that, they knew they had to set up camp. Daiki was the first to move as he opened their bags and unstrapped the bedroll, pulling some of the fresh bandages and cleaning agent to tend to Taiga's wounds. He silently hoped that the journey hadn't angered either of them, but as Taiga got to his feet and started to gather wood for a fire, noticing the lack of a limp once again, that hope grew.

The fire burning and crackling, Daiki sat down next to Taiga with a fresh roll and the bottle of cleaning agent and Taiga new then that there was no getting out of it. He sighed as he untied his cloak and set it aside, slipping the drawstring free and tugging his pants down, but instead of being bashful, which they were far passed, he just shifted to put most of his weight onto his left hip and raise his right thigh so that Daiki could work.

"It still aching?" Daiki asked as he untucked the end of the bandage and started to carefully unwrap it.

"Yeah, but it's probably just from walking all day." Taiga said, pressing back against the rock to lift his hip enough to slide the cloak underneath him for some padding.

"Probably." Daiki nodded, wadding up the bandage in his hand while he unwound it.

After a few wraps, the burn slowly became exposed to the open air and Daiki was unable to stop himself from hissing at the sight of it. The blackened skin had begun to fleck off, peeling away as he worked since it had stuck to the cloth of the bandage. The skin underneath was scarlet red that was edged with white and as his dark blue eyes flicked up to meet Taiga's, he saw that he was holding back a wince.

"It hurts like hell doesn't it." Daiki said, slowing his work to gently removed the charred pieces that hung by threads from Taiga's thigh.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... I think that's actually the tar coming off." He said, finally letting his grimace go as he flinched when such a piece pulled free.

"Jesus... You burned it on your own to stop it." Daiki said, hissing once more as he peeled off another piece and tossed it into the fire.

Again, Taiga nodded, "Had to, or it would've burned through my leg."

Exhaling slowly, Daiki plucked piece after piece, revealing more and more of the harshly red skin underneath. There was no blood at all, but the huge open sores were raw enough to make up for it. He worked as gently as he could, and whenever Taiga would hiss from the harsh sting, he couldn't stop himself from doing the same out of sympathy. It didn't sit well that he was causing pain, but he understood as the last piece pulled free.

Despite the still angry look of the wound, Daiki cleaned it, apologizing the whole time while he carefully dabbed the cleaning astringent around the wound that caused Taiga to hiss and yelp from the white hot sting it caused. He cringed sympathetically, but he soon finished and wrapped the exposed burn with fresh bandaging that shielded it from the air and took away the sharpness of the sting.

After helping Taiga tug back into his pants, the night sky had turned entirely black, only broken by the glimmer of tiny white dots. The hour had gotten late in his tending to the others wounds and with a hard yawn, Daiki slipped in behind Taiga and wrapped his arms around his chest where both soon, and without a word, fell sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Author's Note: I just want to give a huge thank you to Puedraws/Pueppiesblog for her artwork that helped a great deal to envision these two to write this. Check out her work on Tumblr because it's worth it!**

They had walked for hours, one step after another under the heavy blanket of the canopy that acted to trap the heat from the sun above it. It was a hotbox beneath the tightly woven leaves, so steamy and sweaty that it sucked their energy right from their bones. They panted for breath as they walked, swiping their cloaks across their foreheads and over their necks just to keep their sweat from dripping, but that relief only lasted a few moments before their bodies made more.

"Holy shit... The days need to figure out what season they wanna be in." Taiga panted, swallowing a hot gulp of air that made him cringe.

"Welcome to Spring." Daiki said, his words exhausted and airy from the lack of energy.

"It's as hot as a volcano and as wet as an ocean. It needs to stop." Taiga said, wincing as he pressed his hand against his thigh that stung with sweat that beaded onto the burn beneath the bandage wrapping.

Daiki cracked a lopsided smile as he stopped next to a tree, leaning back against it to take a moment's rest. They were completely surrounded by trees and the air was so thick and humid, that they could see the mist floating around in it like dust suspended in time. It took effort just to breathe and as Taiga leaned back against a tree opposite him, he got a true sense of just how intensely hot it was.

Taiga was drenched from head to toe with sweat.

"We need to find somewhere to cool off before we come down with heat sickness." Daiki managed to find the strength to speak, unable to maintain a smile any longer from the energy required it took just to tweak half of his mouth.

Taiga nodded, "This heat's getting to me," he sniffled through his running nose, "My skin feels like it's on fire." He said, swiping away long lines of sweat from his neck.

Licking his tenderly plumped lips from the humidity, Daiki pushed off the tree and stepped up next to Taiga whom made no effort to get away, as that would require moving and he was far too tired, and far too hot to give a damn. He placed his hands against his neck and forehead, frowning at just how hot Taiga felt to the touch. At first, the heat was hot enough to feel cold before his skin adjusted, and if they continued like they were, one if not both, were going to drop from the soul sucking heat.

"Lets get this off you." Daiki said, continuing to frown as he tugged the strings loose and pulled Taiga's cloak from his shoulders.

With the cloak gone, heat bled off of him like he had just stepped out from underneath a waterfall and he sighed with relief as the heat radiated up from more than just his head. His back instantly felt cold and the shock of the sudden temperature change caused him to shiver and his skin to erupt with heavy gooseflesh as he softly gasped.

"Daiki-" he exhaled and gulped, planting his hands on his knees, but when he dropped his chin to his chest, his vision was suddenly whirling with a dizzy spell.

No longer able to stand, Taiga fell forward, his skin still so hot and so slicked from sweat that he felt as if he was melting. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, but where he was expecting to hit the ground, he was caught in a pair of equally as hot arms that held him to a wall of hard fire.

"Get off... You're too hot." Taiga complained, gulping and cringing as he pushed off Daiki to lean back up against the tree once more.

"You're in bad shape... Come on; I think I hear some water a little ways out." Daiki said as he gripped Taiga's wrist and slung his arm across his shoulders.

Gripping Taiga's opposite hip, Daiki lead him along, holding him tight against his side to help him stay on his feet. He was succumbing fast to the heat, far faster than he was and he feared, that if he didn't find some water soon, than Taiga could be in far more trouble. If he had still had thick hide that desensitized him to the heat, protected him against it, he wouldn't worry, but like this, with his hypersensitivity that wouldn't leave him alone, the slightest increase and decrease in temperature was enough to send him into sensory overload.

The longer he walked, the more Taiga's breathing became short and labored, having a difficult time simply taking a breath through the thickness of it. Huge drops of sweat dripped off his chin, his jaw, his nose, that all splatted down onto the dirt like raindrops from the trees. He wanted to place a kiss to Taiga's temple to let him know that he wasn't alone, but he feared that it would be his undoing. All he wanted was to find Taiga relief and when the muffled sound of a waterfall finally broke through the heat, Daiki started to feel hope beat in his heart.

He climbed the small embankment, taking extra time to settle his foot before hoisting Taiga higher and higher until he finally reached the crest where he instantly groaned with relief at the sight of the rippling pool nestled in a gathering of huge boulders.

"Hang on, Buddy. Relief's coming." Daiki breathed out as he hopped his hips to coax Taiga back up onto his unsteady feet.

His grip tightening around Taiga's waist, Daiki started down the short ditch to the pool's edge where he sat Taiga down on the flattest boulder he could find. He ripped off his cloak and tossed both onto the rock before beginning to strip Taiga down, always keeping a hand on him to steady him in his wobbling. He was barely conscious, but Taiga planted his hands on the stone to support himself on his weak arms if at all to make it easier for Daiki to help him. He quickly pulled off his shirt and boots before doing the same with his own until both were only clothed in their pants before hoisting Taiga up into his arms, supporting him with his own body while he carried him to the pool's edge.

"Daiki... Don't. It'll be... bad." Taiga breathed, but the heat had made him too weak to resist.

"I've gotta cool you down. We both need it." Daiki said without even stopping as he set him down as gently as his own remaining strength would allow.

He took a moment to lay Taiga down on his side before slipping into the water that lapped against his skin just below his pectorals. It was significantly cooler than the outside air, almost feeling as if it was ice water compared to the humid air that was hotter than a dragon's breath. It felt incredible and once he was in, he slipped his hands under Taiga's arms and pulled him in, in one fell swoop which was exactly what not to do.

The second the cool water touched Taiga's skin, he yelped, instantly going rigid from the shock of it against his unruly skin. He instantly gripped Daiki's shoulders as he lowered him down, but the more the water touched, the more his body vibrated with the quickly building pleasure that was assaulting his abdomen just from the temperature change.

"Daiki!... I-I... I can't!" Taiga panted, gasping and writhing as his hips bucked of their own accord in his body's desperate plea to have more sensation.

Daiki winced as he brought Taiga to him and wrapped an arm around his waist, but it left him able to see the expression on his face. The redhead was breathing so heavily, so quickly from his trembling pleasure, that his eyes were closed and his mouth was open with each hissing suck of air. Taiga was completely enthralled by the sensations and as Daiki rubbed his back, knowing full well that he was already filled to the brim from the sensations running a chaotic course over his entire body, and as he placed a gentle kiss to his ear, he leaned back to let the water do its job.

However, as the water crawled up Taiga's back, licking up his spine like a tongue, he threw his head back and ripped with a moan so loud, so lustful, that it sent a chill down Daiki's spine to crash low in his own abdomen.

"Ah!... Daiki! Stop! It's too much! There's too much-... Nah!" Taiga screamed as his whole body erupted like a supernova.

Taiga's fingers clamped down on Daiki's shoulders, digging his fingernails into his flesh as he arced back to press Daiki's face into his chest in his throws of pleasure. Hot jets spurt from the erection that had instantly grown from the overflow of sensations, making him shutter from head to toe as he sucked in the longest, most unbroken breath his lungs could hold as if it was his first he had ever taken. He could barely see straight, could barely keep his voice under control as he moaned again, but as the near instant orgasm ebbed away like the largest tide on the planet being pulled by the moon, Taiga went limp and fell forward.

"Holy shit... What just happened?" Daiki asked, having trouble finding his voice as he held onto Taiga as tightly as he could with no idea how to even digest what he had just witnessed.

Taiga could barely see as he just laid there against him and tried to catch his breath. His eyes stung with moisture as he swallowed, but his body still rolled with the remnants of the orgasm that had come about just from being touched by the cool water.

"I-I... I-I-" Taiga stuttered as a line of drool slipped passed the corner of his mouth.

Daiki held his breath as he dared to rest a hand down on Taiga's back, but the moment he did, Taiga twitched and hissed with a sharp intake of air.

"Ssh-... Hey, just breathe... It's okay." Daiki hushed, softly running his hand up and down Taiga's back to spread the cooling water.

After several minutes, Taiga finally regained enough of himself to thread an arm around Daiki's neck, threading his fingers into his dark blue hair as he buried his face into the crook of his neck. He still shuttered with what remained, but the more soft handfuls of water that Daiki cupped to pour over his back, the more his skin began to calm itself down.

"I-I... I'm sorry." Taiga managed to say, his voice distant and hazy.

"For what? Feeling?... Don't be ridiculous." Daiki scoffed, cupping another handful up onto Taiga's back.

"It was so much... My whole body felt like it was exploding and I couldn't do anything about it. The temperature change made everything feel just... just-" Taiga's voice trailed off as he caressed the nape of Daiki's neck.

"Sounded like it felt pretty good to me." Daiki smirked, pressing the corner of his lips against Taiga's temple as he waded backwards through the pool to keep the water coursing over them both.

Taiga huffed a smirk, "Shut up."

Daiki lowly laughed, "I'm kinda jealous." He said with a low tone as he ran his hand up and down Taiga's spine in smooth strokes.

The deep vibrations of Daiki's voice sent another shiver all over his skin as Taiga finally found the energy to lift his head, his eyes still half-lidded and hazy from his over stimulation. He continued to caress the nape of Daiki's neck as he looked into his eyes and when the tips of their noses brushed against each other, Taiga's body suddenly wanted more.

Closing his eyes, Taiga dipped his head and pressed their lips together, draping his arms over Daiki's shoulders as a leg began to drift up to rest the inside of his thigh against his hip. Hands soon gripped his hips as their lips started to move with gentle scrapings of teeth and nibbles of pleasure as they kissed, their breathing hissing through their noses that were pressed against their cheeks. The sensations that still sparked against his skin were starting to burrow, smoldering low as he leaned harder against him just to feel more, just to feel the much cooler heat from Daiki's skin and when his throat shuttered with a low moan, Daiki's breath caught in his throat as he ground the front of his hips against Taiga's. It only served to show him that Daiki wanted more as well.

"Keep doing that and I'll make you feel what I felt." Taiga growled low, parting their lips just enough to allow him to speak through his rebuilding lust that was this time, caused by a living, breathing creature rather than water.

"I did say I was jealous." Daiki said with a hop of an eyebrow as he bit his bottom lip and threaded his arms around Taiga's midsection to keep him in place.

Taiga crushed their lips back together as he sunk himself down into the water, planting his feet into the silt at the bottom so he was eye level with the other man as he gripped the nape of his neck. His mind was still reeling from overflow as he slipped his tongue into Daiki's mouth, humming with growing delight as he started to step back and drag Daiki right along with him.

However, when his back touched the stone of the edge of the pool, Taiga took over and rolled so fast that the water splashed up into their faces as he spun Daiki around to bring his backside back against his front.

"Somebody's feisty." Daiki breathed, his hands pressing into the stone as he lolled his head over to the side to allow Taiga to have the most access to his neck.

"I warned you. It's your fucking fault for not taking it slow." Taiga growled, tightly gripping Daiki's chin to crane his head around so he could capture his lips once more.

Daiki moaned into Taiga's mouth as he reached behind him to grip the back of Taiga's head, rolling his hips back to press his backside hard into the front of Taiga's hips. It pulled a long growl from Taiga's throat, but when he started getting rough, planting a hard hand down onto Daiki's head to press it against the rock, worry began to build in his chest.

"Whoa... What's gotten into you?" Daiki squeaked as Taiga pinned him against the stone with his own body and started to fiddle with the drawstring of his pants.

"This is what happens when you overstimulate a Drake." Taiga growled again through clenched teeth, near ripping Daiki's pants down to just below his ass.

Daiki's eyes snapped wide, "W-What?" He stuttered, his breath coming faster as Taiga's hands roamed over his hips towards his front.

He started to shake with nerves as Taiga's mouth clamped down on the back of his neck, licking hot lines from his hair, all the way to his shoulder blades before going back up again. His hands explored his hips, following his sex lines until one continued down and the other changed course and headed around towards his back.

The second a hand slipped down his pants and wrapped around his length, Daiki gasped, sucking in a short intake of air as his fingers clawed into the stone with his muscles twitching rapidly. His abdomen tightened and flexed with the firm, yet pleasurable grip that had begun to stroke him, pulling grunts and moans with each long stroke that went from base to tip. It was getting hard to think, to concentrate on breathing, but when a finger, a single, strong finger grazed over his entrance, every inch of muscle that hid beneath his caramel skin went instantly rigid.

"No!... No no no! Not there!" Daiki freaked as he forced himself back to shove Taiga away from him with his whole body.

The second he had enough room, Daiki spun around, pressing himself back against the stone as if he was trying to hide, but he was soon trapped between a pair of arms and under the fiery gaze that was piercing into his soul.

"I have an excuse... I'm so fucking sensitive right now that _water_ makes me hard, but you... something caused that reaction." Taiga said lowly as he licked his lips, gently cupping Daiki's chin to turn his head to the side and run his nose up and down his neck.

Daiki gulped, "Once... It happened once just after I enlisted in the rider's core." He choked out, his breath stuttering so hard that it felt that it was clogging his throat like a stopped up drain.

Taiga's brows furrowed, "If you tell me it was your Captain, I'll kill him and I'll kill him slow." He left a soft trail of calming kisses just below Daiki's ear.

However, Daiki shook his head, "It wasn't. Another recruit who happened to like the color of my skin."

His lips stilling, Taiga lifted his head to stare into Daiki's hazy eyes, noticing that they wouldn't look back. He avoided his gaze as he stared down at the water, pressing further back against the rock and it actually made Taiga's chest hurt to see such a pensive expression on his face. He wanted those eyes to look at him, to see him, so with a surprisingly gentle touch, he cupped Daiki's chin and coaxed him to look up

"I won't... If I had known, I wouldn't have been so rough. Thanks for cooling me down." Taiga said before he started to wade away.

However, when his wrist was caught below the water's surface, Taiga froze and looked back over his shoulder into eyes that were soft, yet alluring.

"Don't just walk away from me without finishing what you started... The feeling of your hand on me?... That alone was almost enough." Daiki said, his mouth small as he tried not to frown.

Taiga's lips parted as his eyes flicked down to peer through the water's rippling surface at Daiki's pants that were barely keeping him decent, as they were hanging so low that the dark blue trail of hair could be seen against his skin. The sight of it made Taiga's belly knot and when he saw how the front of those very pants were pushed out from something behind them, he couldn't stop the lightly crooked smirk from stretching across his face with a spark of pride.

"I don't wanna freak you out." Taiga said, his eyes flicking back up to meet Daiki's as he turned his hand around to fully clutch his.

"Would you rather risk that, or leave me frustrated?" Daiki cracked a lopsided smirk as his fingers wrapped around Taiga's hand.

"Neither really," he licked his lips, "I'd rather have your full attention." He said, taking a step back towards him.

"You have it." Daiki said simply, scrubbing a hand down his face to rid it of hanging droplets.

Seeing Daiki's slowly returning smile, Taiga's unease began to fall away as he returned to him, stepping in close as he grasped his head between both hands. He admired the dark blue color of Daiki's eyes before tilting his head and bringing his lips down where he was instantly met with fervor that almost felt desperate to have more. The hissing sucks of their breathing could be heard over the lapping water and the trickle of the stream that fed into the pool, how their saliva mixed and their low moans bled together. It was all enough to make Taiga's body vibrate with more want and as his hands started to drift down below the water, he moved his lips to the side to suckle and nip along Daiki's neck.

Daiki exhaled a low moan as his head was pushed over, giving Taiga the most room as he gripped both his strong shoulders. His breath hitched in his throat when Taiga pressed fully into his form and tightly gripped his thigh, hoisting his leg up to hook it against his hip and it only made him want more. He wanted to be close, wanted to be pressed so hard against him that their bodies could melt together, so as Taiga did just that, Daiki's other leg rose to wrap both his long legs around Taiga's hips.

"How are you this good?" Daiki mulled, taking in short, quickened breaths as Taiga's hands firmly grabbed his bared ass and pulled him harder against him.

"I'm a bit older than you." Taiga breathed, blowing hot air over Daiki's already heated skin to make a heat shiver shoot through him.

As Taiga's teeth found his earlobe, Daiki rolled his head back, not even caring about the hard grind against his skull as he curled his arms around Taiga's neck. Getting ravished by Taiga's hot lips, Daiki was losing his mind, his member pulsing and twitching that actually ached with desire. When Taiga rolled his hips into his groin, it only made it worse, but the best was yet to come when Taiga's hand slipped between their abdomens and held their lengths together.

"Fuck!" Daiki hissed, his mouth agape with pleasure as his fingers clawed down Taiga's back.

"Melt for me." Taiga breathed, running his tongue down Daiki's neck as he started to stroke both their lengths.

Daiki was seeing stars the more Taiga stroked them, his muscles quivering nonstop as he was filled with sensations. He was awash with heat, with cold from the water, with the warm breath that left Taiga's mouth every time he opened it to place another kiss along his neck. He was getting greedy and he could feel it as he started to roll his hips in kind, firming up Taiga's strokes until his hand actually pressed into his abdomen to get at his entire length. The pulls of his skin going taut along his member made him shake, needing to grip Taiga all that much harder to keep from slipping underwater, and when he stepped back just enough to lay him flatter, still leaning up against the stone, he simply didn't care anymore.

"Finish me off, Taiga... Fuck... Please finish me off." Daiki begged, reaching a hand up to grip the top of the rock to help keep him up as Taiga's mouth sucked hard on a nipple.

Taiga growled as he continued to suck and nip, pulling and stroking firm both of their lengths that were twitching together. His entire lower half was aflame with building pleasure, but he wasn't sure if he could bring it to fruition himself. He could feel everything to such a degree that just a breath was enough to make him quake, but by his own hand, it wasn't the same. He wanted Daiki to touch him, to pull him along and when he got just that, he wasn't able to divide his attention anymore.

Taiga brought their bodies back together once more as he stroked Daiki and Daiki stroked him, both moving in sync with long, agonizingly slow motions that dragged out their pleasure to the point that they both writhed with more need. Daiki moaned again as he used his chin to lift Taiga's face, opening it up to claim his lips and when they touched, the heat started to skyrocket.

"Bring me home, Taiga... Nah... Make me cum just like you did... F-F-Fu-... Shit, I'm on fire." Daiki begged through their hot, wet and sloppy kissing that slicked their lips with saliva instead of water.

Taiga growled hard as he tightened his grip around Daiki, tugging faster and more ragged as Daiki returned the favor. He was shaking so badly that he was sure he was about to fall over the edge, but when that string in his abdomen broke, snapping against everything in its path, he let go everything that had built up.

Both erupted with hot jets that immediately dissipated in the water as their throats ripped with delighted moans and hazy gazes. They shook against each other, their lips still touching, but their mouths open to pant into each others mouths as they rode out their climaxes that rolled like a boulder downhill. It took ages for the boulder to stop and as their lengths squirted a few more weaker jets, they finally began to level out enough for them to hold their heads above water.

Their foreheads touching, they took what felt like hours to regain their breath, to let their eyes clear of the pleasurable haze that had filled them entirely. Their lips were swollen from use and heat and their breathing was panting in and out, slow and true, as they fell into red and blue.

"You have my heart, Taiga." Daiki whispered, gazing into his eyes through his lashes as he began to softly caress the nape of Taiga's neck.

"And you have mine, Daiki." Taiga said just as quietly as he nuzzled his nose against Daiki's cheek.

"I wanna give you the best... I wanna take you away from the Crimson Kingdom where no one can get to you. I'll die to protect you." Daiki said, slicking his tongue across his own lips to ease their swollen numbness.

"If you die, I'll follow you... No one's ever showed me love before and I won't let anything separate us now. Not even death has that kind of strength." Taiga said, his voice low and meaningful as he gripped the back of Daiki's neck to keep him right where he was.

Daiki held his breath as he tilted his head that tiny amount to bring their lips back together for a much slower, much more controlled kiss. All he wanted in that moment was to relish in the feeling of having Taiga against him with his legs still wrapped around his hips. He wanted to be selfish, but the slightest thought, the slightest image of Taiga was enough to make him want to sacrifice it all. He wrapped his arms around Taiga's neck and with his eyes closed, he felt the water creeping up his neck, spurring him to take in a deep inhale.

The cooling water crashed over his head as they sank, still kissing and still holding onto each other. His ears were filled with the hum of the water, but he could still faintly make out the sound of their lips as if he was hearing it in his mind. He could have stayed there forever, in fact, he would welcome it, but when his lungs began to scream for air, he was forced to make his decision.

Unwrapping his legs from Taiga's hips, he planted his feet and broke their kiss to rise to the surface, bursting through with a huge suck of air as he tossed his head back to throw water out of his hair. It splashed against the rocks and peppered the dirt, and as he started to fall back down into the cooling water, its surface was broken once more by two toned crimson and a smile.

"Lightweight." Taiga chuckled as he raised his arms and caught Daiki under his arms before his feet could touch down onto the sediment at the bottom of the pool.

"Not a Drake." Daiki laughed, returning the smile as he rested his hands down onto Taiga's shoulders as he lowered him down.

Taiga beamed as he grasped either side of Daiki's jaw and planted a firm, stilled kiss that only lasted a moment, but both smiled as wide as their cheeks would allow just by the fact that they were close. They were feeling so much better now that they were cooling off and as their moods started to lift, they situated their pants back to where they belonged and splashed.

After a water fight that had ended with Daiki winning by pinning Taiga to the rocks and kissing him furiously, they pulled themselves from the pool and rung out their pants before getting dressed. The air was still hot and heavy, painted with mist from the humidity, but now that they had cooled off, it actually felt good as they packed their things to resume their journey, but this time, they left their cloaks off.

The trees never once parted to let fresh air in, leaving the pair to take it slow and steady, or risk becoming overheated again. Every scent of the rain forest assaulted their noses, from molded vegetation, to animal, to sewage and everything in between. Fungus added its earthy undertone every time they stepped down into soft dirt and after several more hours of forging a path through the forest, they were exhausted, hungry and once again dripping in sweat.

They were about to give up for the day and find a cooler spot to settle down, but when the trees finally gave way to release a wave of much cooler air that made them go rigid from chill, they realized they had finally arrived.

Daiki and Taiga stopped, panting and exhausted along the treeline, staring out over the massive clearing that was large enough to house the entire town, and the Crimson Castle without bunching anything together. Trees were felled and the forest floor had been traveled so much, by so much, that the roots had been crushed and the foliage trampled. The sky was so blue and void of clouds that it left the bright white sun an unhindered path upon which to burn the ground and in the center of it all was a giant, wide open and jagged canyon that dove so deep, they couldn't see the bottom from where they stood.

"This is it. The fisher." Daiki said, still breathing a bit heavily as he gripped a knee with one hand, and shielded his eyes with the other.

"The orcs have deforested everything around it to open up the space. Look there," he pointed down the fisher to his left, "They built scaffolding to get down into the canyon." Taiga said, swallowing down his breath despite his dried throat.

"We'll need to find another way. That'll be too obvious." Daiki said as he stood up straight and locked his fingers behind his head.

Taiga rested his hands on his hips, "We don't have any rope, do we."

Daiki shook his head, "Not an inch."

As they stood for a few minutes to give themselves a break and breath in the much cooler, much less humid air, the distant sounds of metal hitting stone came echoing up from the wide fisher. They glanced at each other with furrowed brows before silently agreeing that they needed to continue, and with shallow nods, they stepped forward and out into the blistering sun.

They put their cloaks back on despite the heat to protect their skin as they quickly ran for the edge of the fisher, crouching low just in case there were any look outs. Several towers could be seen across the way, but with the sheer width of the fisher, seeing brown against brown was going to be tough. They got down on all fours and crawled up to the edge where they laid down on their stomachs, but when they peered down into the extravagant depths, that was when they saw exactly what the orcs were up to.

However, it wasn't the sheer vastness of the operation that their eyes were glued on, but rather, the giant facade of a temple that was carved and built right into the canyon wall.

"By the gods-... How long have they been at it?" Daiki reeled, his eyes wide as he watched the army of orcs digging and working around the temple entrance.

"It's gotta be every since the quake." Taiga said, his brows furrowing as he drank in the site.

"Is that the temple?" Daiki asked, keeping his head low as he studied the intricately crafted stone of the buried temple.

Taiga remained silent as he stared at the goddess whom was perfectly crafted directly out of the rock, how her robes flowed and hair bled into the hard earth as if she was being formed from it. She was an elegant beauty, a long standing figure of the relationship between life and soul and she was so beautiful, so graceful that even though her eyes were closed, their stone gazed into every soul that set their eyes upon her.

"Taiga... Hey." Daiki's voice said, finally coming back into existence from his staring.

"Huh?... Oh, sorry," he sighed, "Yeah... That's the Temple of Amalphia." Taiga said, finally blinking as he glanced over at him, but only for a moment before looking back at the far off structure.

Daiki's brows furrowed as he watched Taiga's gaze grow distant, almost unseeing as he just stared. He was captivated by the temple, the way the goddess blindly gazed down at the large archway entrance just below her bare, jewelry covered feet. He was lost by her beauty, but why, he didn't know.

"What's wrong with you?" Daiki asked softly as he brushed a gentle knuckle down Taiga's cheek.

"Nothing... I just never thought I'd actually get to see it in my lifetime." Taiga said, never looking away.

"Why?" Daiki asked, rapping that same knuckle against Taiga's chin with the hopes that he would look at him.

He did.

"My memories are fuzzy, but I remember the stories my broodmother would tell us at night while we laid over the warmed coals. She would say that Amalphia's beauty was so great, that souls from across our world would travel here just to get the slightest of glimpses of her. She was so radiant that even blind men were granted the gift of sight just to relish in it for the briefest of moments. Her temple used to be open to all; Man. Drake. It didn't matter, but all were welcome until one day, a malevolent king tried to force Amalphia to love him. She refused, saying her love was for all, but the king wouldn't listen. He tried to steal her away and that's when she cast everyone out of her temple and closed the earth around it. Just before the earth sealed her in, she said one final thing that was cast in stone." Taiga explained, holding Daiki's gaze the whole time while he spoke.

"What did she say?" Daiki asked, dropping his hand to clutch Taiga's.

Taiga turned his eyes back to temple, "No one shall have my heart. Not man. Not Drake, but should a love that deserves my blessing bare its soul to me, than I shall open my temple and embrace it. I shall wait for it, and for every thousand lives of a thousand Drakes, Man and Drake alike can try and convince me that true love exists."

"The Goddess of Life and Soul... Love." Daiki said, shifting his eyes over to the temple to watch the orcs dig and work.

"A notion that embodies both one's life, and one's soul. You can't love in life without bearing your soul." Taiga added as he returned the gentle grasp on Daiki's hand.

"So that quake must've marked the end of that thousand lives of a thousand Drakes period." Daiki said.

Taiga nodded, "A million years. A thousand lives of a thousand Drakes is a million years."

"But I don't understand what she meant by Man and Drake alike... Was she expecting Humans and Drakes to get along?" Daiki asked, gently swallowing as he shifted his gaze back to his lover.

"She couldn't have predicted the Draken Conflict. There's a story about the last time her temple was open a million years ago. When Amalphia opened her temple, a long descendant of that king tried to win her love by bringing her the heart of an elder Drake broodmother. She became so enraged by it, that she severed the king's bloodline to never be seen again before giving her undying blessing to the Drakes. This angered Man so much that they swore vengeance on the Drakes for being in her favor and that's what lead to the inevitable Draken Conflict." Taiga explained, never letting go of Daiki's hand as he watched the orcs cart off a huge lump of rough stone away from the exterior temple wall.

Daiki scrubbed his hair, "It festered for eons before someone finally decided to act." He growled.

"It was The Order of Draken Blood. A brotherhood that swore a million years ago to get vengeance the next time Amalphia's temple was unearthed. They counted the years, the decades, the centuries until it was time and slaughtered us before the temple could open again. They intend to break Amalphia's heart so she'll submit." Taiga said as his eyes became distant once again.

"The Order of Draken Blood?... But all the scrolls I read when I looked into the conflict all said that it was a war of kings." Daiki said as he slightly tightened his hold on Taiga's hand to let him know that he was still there.

"Backed by The Order. It wasn't uncommon for a king to be apart of the brotherhood, but those that weren't, were soon convinced." Taiga said simply.

Daiki gripped the meat of his shoulder, "Why wasn't it mentioned then?"

"Why do you think, Daiki? Because history gets muddled the more it gets written. My kind lives 100,000 years and by the time we get there, we're ancient beings with so much knowledge that even Man could put aside their disdain just to learn from us. It all fucking changed because a bunch of Humans are vengeful and wanted us dead over a story. By the time it was time to slaughter us, The Order of Draken Blood's own history was so fuzzy that I guarantee, that if you asked one why they hate the Drakes, they couldn't tell you." Taiga said with a low growl in his voice, his brows drawing down further as his jaw tightened.

"Hey," he exhaled, "I didn't mean to upset you. This is probably really hard for you huh." Daiki said, releasing Taiga's hand to brush his fingers over his cheek and push aside a sweat lumped lock of hair.

"And all we did wrong was exist." Taiga said lowly without looking at him.

Daiki's brows furrowed, "What?... Taiga, it's not wrong that you're alive. Why would you say that?"

"Isn't it?... If any of the Humans before you found out I'm a Drake, I'd be dead and your Crimson King would have my head on his wall. You're the only Human in existence that doesn't see a prize whenever you look at me." Taiga scowled, but was able to look at him for longer than a fleeting moment.

"Well... You are a prize, but not how you're thinking." Daiki said with a hop of an eyebrow and crooked smirk across his face.

Taiga wasn't able to keep from smiling at the mirth filled look in Daiki's eye, how it glimmered in the intense sun and looked at him with the same expression that it had since they started to be close. It warmed his heart; his strong, beating and rhythmic heart that he was being as regarded something more than just a wild animal and under his gaze that was so blue and so cooling, that very heart fluttered with a sensation he not only didn't understand, but had started to enjoy.

As his face twitched to produce a gentle smile, Taiga lifted his hand and rested it down against Daiki's jaw, brushing his thumb just beneath his eye, but as far off yells began to flutter up from the busy bottom of the fisher, those gentle smiles of love were wiped from their faces as they looked back down at the army of orcs.

Both sets of lungs gasped as their eyes set on a creature none had every seen before, a creature only ever heard about in stories and art. It was massive in comparison to the orcs whom only reached its hips and it walked on two long, strong and very dragon like legs. Its arms were thick with muscle with claw tipped hands that had four fingers and a thumb, and sprouting from the creature's back was a huge set of obsidian wings that were tucked in close to its back. An enormous tail swished with each giant stride that stomped and its head was demonic with a pair of long curved horns that swept back just like Taiga's did and it's entire form was wrapped with charcoal black skin that was patched with areas of blood red scales.

"What the fuck is that!" Daiki yelped, but managed to keep his voice no louder than a harsh whisper as he stared dumbfounded at the beast as it angrily ordered the orcs around.

"No-... No, it can't be... They're forbidden!" Taiga reeled, his heart racing and his breathing stuttered as he refused to blink.

"Taiga?... What is it? A demon?" Daiki asked, only able to tear his eyes away from the creature long enough to glance at him.

Taiga shook his head, "N-No-" he gulped, "It's a dragonkin."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **Author's Note: I did mention this was a yaoi heavy story right? I'm pretty sure I mentioned that.**

A dragonkin; A creature whose tales of old were even older than the stories told to children at bedtime. They were creatures that were feared, regarded as nightmare, as bringers of ruin and chaos, but somehow, for some reason, Daiki and Taiga laid atop the edge of the monolithic canyon staring at one such beast thought to only reside in nightmare.

"A dragonkin? The half man, half dragon monsters from childrens' books?" Daiki asked in disbelief as he held his breath in an attempt to keep from getting dizzy.

Taiga nodded, "They're not just stories. They exist, but they shouldn't. They're forbidden." He breathed, finally blinking his eyes to prevent them from drying out.

"Taiga... Why is there a dragonkin commanding an army of orcs to excavate the Temple of Amalphia?" Daiki asked, opting to watch Taiga's gaze rather than the scene far below.

"I don't know... How did they even gather the required reagents for it? There aren't any left." Taiga said, his hand blindly reaching out to grasp Daiki's simply for something to hold onto.

"Reagents? Taiga... This is magic I know nothing about. Hell, I'm still trying to figure yours out. Are dragonkin born, or created?" Daiki asked, scooting closer to bring their shoulders together so he could rest his forehead against Taiga's temple in an attempt to comfort him.

"Created... Dragonkin are what we called Humans whom tried to become dragons by using dark magic. There were two things they needed for the Eastern mages to concocted the brew, and that was the heart of a broodmother and the blood of a broodsire. Once they drank it, that's what they would become." Taiga explained, nuzzling into Daiki's touch as the far off dragonkin kicked an orc across the canyon for merely getting in its way.

"So a dragonkin is working to access the temple, but why? That guy doesn't look like the type trying to prove love." Daiki said, tilting his head enough to continue watching the creature as it barked more orders.

"There's no love there. I bet he's going for the dagger." Taiga said, closing his eyes as he focused on the feeling of Daiki being close, as it helped to keep him calm despite what he was seeing.

"You're probably right, but I don't think just the two of us can take on that many orcs, plus a dragonkin. We need to start back towards the Crimson Kingdom as soon as possible." Daiki said, lifting his head and cupping Taiga's chin to coax him to look at him.

"It'll be a long walk, Daiki. By the time we get back, he could already have the dagger." Taiga said, resting his forehead against Daiki's as his stomach began to roll with nerves at what they were suddenly being faced with.

"You're right. It's up to us. Let's wait till dark and see if the numbers go down, alright?" Daiki asked as he drifted a finger back along Taiga's jaw.

Taiga just nodded before Daiki pulled away from him and pushed himself up just far enough to get his feet underneath him. He soon did the same and crouched low as they hurried back towards the trees. They had quite awhile to wait, as the sun was only directly overhead and wouldn't dip below the evening horizon for quite a few hours. The heat of the day was coming and both knew that the already unbearable heat was going to be cranked up so high that even the heat itself was screaming for mercy. They knew they had to find some sort of shady spot and preferably one that allowed them to get cool and as they walked, trudging through more humidity, more densely packed forest, they found it in the form of a sheltered swath of cooler dirt beneath a large jetty of rock that was heavily curtained on one side by a solid fall of water.

Both exhaled sighs of relief as they sat down, their legs simply giving out as they sank down to plop them heavily onto the dirt where they crawled to the curtain of water to cup handfuls onto their faces. The heat had sucked them dry of any energy reserves, but just by splashing their faces, some of it seemed to return.

"This heat... Not real sure how much more I can take." Taiga said, sucking in long, full breaths just to get enough oxygen into his lungs.

"You doing alright?" Daiki asked, scrubbing his face with the water before looking at him with mildly furrowed brows.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... My skin just feels tight and overly hot. I'm still real hypersensitive." He said, scooping and throwing handfuls down his back to help cool him.

"Like before?" Daiki asked as he ran a hand back over his hair to ring it of extra water.

Taiga half shrugged, "Getting there," his breath stuttered, "The water's warmer than before so it's not shocking my system as much." He said, forcing himself to take controlled breaths in and out of his mouth.

Daiki gulped down a mouthful of water to wet his throat before stepping in close to Taiga's side, placing a hand on his back that earned him those crimson eyes he had come to cherish. This time, they weren't hazy like they had been, but rather alert and keen. His lips were even quirked up into a soft smile and the way his wet hair hung over his forehead made him reach up and brush it aside so it didn't obscure his view.

"What?" Taiga exhaled, his eyes flicking down to glance at Daiki's lips before drifting back up.

"We've got some time to kill." Daiki whispered as his fingers fluttered down Taiga's cheek to rest his knuckle beneath his chin.

Taiga's soft smile briefly broadened for a breath, "What do you have in mind?"

"I wanna make sure you're okay. You looked pretty terrified seeing that dragonkin." Daiki said lowly, taking a half step closer to thread his leg between Taiga's thighs.

"No one who becomes a dragonkin is good at heart. What we saw was someone who just craved more power. Who knows what he could wish for if he gets the dagger." Taiga said, turning his body to put them chest to chest as his hands trailed down Daiki's arms.

"We'll figure something out, Taiga. Don't think too hard about it." Daiki said quietly as he brushed back another lock of hair from Taiga's forehead.

"It's hard not to. 230 years is a long time and I've seen a lot of things. I've seen how much people can hate, but this... Seeing and getting to experience this kind of love?... I don't want it to end because of somebody born of hate." Taiga said, leaning into him as he draped his arms over Daiki's shoulders.

"It wont... I promise." Daiki said, tilting his head to the side as he brought their lips to only a thread's width apart.

Taiga's eyes closed, "Why can't we just leave? Why can't we just... run away and watch the world burn?"

"Because I know we couldn't live with that. You don't wanna have to look over your shoulder anymore and I get that and if we ran, that would never stop. We'll get this dagger first and I swear to you, I'll wish the Drakes back." Daiki said, his eyes half-lidded as he studied Taiga's soft face.

"We can't... I told you." Taiga said, his lips parted as he blindly waited to feel his lips against them.

"We have an invested heart... That dragonkin. I bet we can use his." Daiki said, each exhale drifting over Taiga's lips that made him open his mouth with the hopes of tasting it.

"There's no guarantee, Daiki. It would be so much easier just to run." Taiga said, slicking his tongue over his lips as his good leg began to drift up Daiki's body.

"Love is never easy."

Taiga wanted to gasp, but his mouth was soon occupied when Daiki finally granted those very lips against his own. He tightened his arms around his neck to hold him closer as the water licked at their skin, soaking through their clothes to run down their bodies in long, unbroken fingers. He ground his hips against Daiki's leg, desperate to feel more, to be consumed by a much different kind of heat that was far more enjoyable than what surrounded them. His throat rumbled with a moan as their tongues greeted each other and when Daiki's hand fell down his back to grip two thick handfuls of his backside, he was suddenly jerked tight against him to feel that telltale hardness trapped between them.

"Isn't it hot enough?" Taiga asked breathlessly as he parted their lips and opened his eyes just enough to see that Daiki's had gone hazy with returned want.

"I can't seem to stop wanting you." Daiki said, biting his bottom lip as his hands went to the cloth belt holding Taiga's shirt closed around his torso.

Taiga let his arms fall to his side as Daiki slipped his hands behind the cloth and slipped his shirt from his shoulders, running them down his arms until the makeshift shirt fell free. Without the shield of the cloth, Taiga's skin was left to endure Daiki's touch and the water all on its own, instantly becoming hot with rising pleasure that licked at every nerve from head to toe. His head lolled to the side as Daiki's lips came down on his neck where he floated his hands up Daiki's back just for somewhere to hold. He was getting wobbly on his own feet as he pressed his hips harder against him and as his boots began to slip on the wet rock below the waterfall, Daiki wrapped his arms around his waist and lowered them both down to the ground.

His legs freed, Taiga hooked one against Daiki's hip as he slipped his hands beneath the hem of his shirt to run them up the length of Daiki's back. He pulled his shirt up until Daiki sat up onto his knees, taking over as he grabbed his shirt and ripped it off to expose his chest to Taiga's blurry gaze and roaming hands. Every time his fingers trailed over the lines of Daiki's muscles, they twitched, flexing to highlight their lines that made Taiga's abdomen twitch with the desperation to have even more.

He lifted his heel and buried it into the small of Daiki's back, forcing him forward to lay over him where he quickly claimed his lips and wrapped his arms around his neck. He could feel Daiki's heart hammering in his chest against his own, almost hear it right along with his own as they kissed and explored each others mouths with their tongues. The spray of the water peppered their skin, but even with it being warmer than the last pool, it was still significantly cooler than the air around them. Each bead, each spray of mist made them shutter against each other as their hips ground hard, pressing their hard erections into their abdomens to make them blatantly obvious and each time Daiki rolled his hips forward, the pressure spiked inside Taiga's gut to make him moan.

"How do you wanna do this?... I don't wanna freak you out." Taiga panted, separating their lips in order to speak, but ran hot, unbroken lines up Daiki's neck with his tongue.

"I don't really give a damn how it works out anymore." Daiki growled as he rose up just enough to get his hands between them and begin fiddling with the drawstring of Taiga's pants.

Feeling his pants loosen around his hips, Taiga reached for Daiki's, but he was soon out of reach when Daiki scooted down to untie both their boots. It only took the darker man a minute to slip their shoes off before returning to cover him, the returned heat and feeling his weight above him making Taiga moan some more as his hands frantically searched for the drawstring. He wanted every inch of his sensitive skin to feel him, to be bathed in his heat so completely that the humidity wouldn't matter anymore. Their lips and tongues battled against the other as they desperately worked to taste each other, to swallow down their heat and moans and as Daiki's hands gripped his hips and hoisted him up, pulling him tight to his front, he slipped his pants down to expose him.

Taiga rolled his head back as Daiki gripped his ankle to move his leg to the other side to join the other, where he pulled off his pants to leave him completely nude in front of him. He bit down on his own knuckle with his other arm resting motionless above his head as he watched Daiki through his lashes, trying not to moan as those very hands roamed his body with feather light touches. It took everything he had to stay quiet, but with the rush of the water beside them, he let a long mull escape his throat just as Daiki's hands gripped his length.

"Please make that sound again." Daiki lustfully smiled, pulling a long stroke all the way to the tip as he leaned forward to relish Taiga's neck with licks and kisses.

Taiga couldn't think straight as he arced back, moaning once more as Daiki tugged and slipped his own hard length free of his pants. He placed them together to build his own pleasure, to stroke them in both his hands, and a hot, rapid shiver shot down his spine when another mull leaped free from Taiga's throat.

"Nah!... Daiki, please... Please make me feel Human!" Taiga begged, releasing his knuckle from between his teeth to grip the nape of the man's neck.

However, at Taiga's pleading words, Daiki stilled, his hands merely gripping their lengths as he sat up just enough to looking into Taiga's hazy and pleasure filled eyes. The man beneath him mulled and rolled his hips just to get some sort of movement, as he was so desperate, so needing of pleasure that just being denied it was crueler than anything his mind, in that moment, could make up.

"Please, Daiki... Don't stop. Why did you stop?" Taiga moaned, panting with stuttering breaths as he reached between them to make Daiki's hands move.

"Make you feel Human?... Why did you say that?" Daiki asked, ignoring his own pulsing pleasure as he focused on Taiga's desperate gaze.

Taiga bit his bottom lip, "Because I'm not... Humans love... Drakes don't." He gulped as he sucked in breath after breath just to fuel his words through his pleasure.

"Then explain why you love me." Daiki all, but demanded as he swallowed to keep himself from drooling.

Taiga's brows furrowed as he blinked the haze away, sucking on his own lips to keep himself quiet as Daiki started to torture him by simply tightening his grip. He flinched from the pressure, arcing back as the building pleasure began to get painful, throbbing and aching and thumping against his abdomen like someone with a pickaxe. He wanted to answer, wanted to give this man some sort of words that would make sense, but he couldn't, as his mind was so muddled with want that forming a single sentence was harder than the situation they faced.

"I-I... I don't know." Taiga whimpered, his breathing becoming short and stuttering as he laid his arms above his head to leave himself fully under Daiki's control.

However, where Taiga was expecting to see a frown, a soft, mirth filled smile graced Daiki's lips.

"That's love... True love has no explanation. If you asked me the same question, I couldn't give you an answer because it's just how I feel. Whether you're Human, or not, I love you because my heart doesn't see a difference." Daiki said, dropping his head to press their lips together.

At the exquisite touch, Taiga sucked in a huge breath as he lifted his arms and wrapped them back around Daiki's neck, hooking a leg back onto his hip to drive his heel and force him to move. The ache was reaching uncomfortable levels, and he was so desperate, so thirsty for more that he bucked his hips up to meet Daiki's with fervor. He hummed against his lips as he wrapped his other leg around him, pulling him even closer, but with it came no room for Daiki's hands to move.

Parting their lips with a wet pop, Daiki cupped Taiga's cheek as he managed to wiggle his other hand free, earning a whimper from the other, but that whimper soon changed into a pleasurable gasp when his hand drifted around his ass and began to slipped between its cheeks.

"You're sure?" Daiki breathed, his finger teasing around Taiga's backside to pull more moans and airy whimpers from him.

Taiga just nodded as he raised his arms once more above his head, biting a knuckle as he felt himself stretch by Daiki's finger. He nearly yelped from it, but the second his finger stilled, his eyes finally cleared to bring Daiki into focus.

"Relax... The more you relax, the better." Daiki whispered, nudging Taiga's head to the side to nuzzle his neck to use the hypersensitivity to his advantage.

Taiga exhaled a shaky breath, "I-I'm... I-I don't know if I can... I f-feel everything." He whimpered as he started to shake, swallowing down his whimper of discomfort at the presence of Daiki's finger.

Daiki moved as slow and deliberate as possible as he twitched that single finger, making Taiga hiss and instantly go tight around him. Every muscle was rigid, was so taut that he risked tearing them, but he kept at it, going ultra slow and careful to ease his lover's discomfort.

He twitched that finger once more, and just like before, Taiga near yelped, biting down hard onto his own hand just to keep from crying out, but with each twitch, each easy movement, Taiga's grimaces and whimpers eased to give way to soft intakes of pleasurable air through a soft mouth.

"There we go... Relax, Taiga... Just breathe." Daiki said lowly, sitting up onto his knees and wetting his hand in the falls to run cooling water all over Taiga's chest and hips.

Taiga held his breath for a moment before letting it out in a rush, focusing in on the sudden coolness to help ease the pressure that was consuming his entire body. His eyes were so blurry, so hazy with want that just by looking up at him through his lashes was taking far more effort than it should have.

"I-I... M-More." Taiga managed to choke out, refusing to move out of the mild fear of causing himself pain.

Pressing his hand down onto Taiga's abdomen, he pushed his hips down, seating his finger deeper inside to make Taiga flinch again and whimper as the knuckle slipped through the threshold. He could feel every muscle tighten around his digit, quivering so violently that he could see the white stars and dizziness swirling in Taiga's vision. He stayed perfectly still to let Taiga settle and after a few moments that were long and filled with heavy pants from Taiga simply trying to catch his breath, he dared to flex that finger again.

That single twitch made Taiga's vision erupt with searing white stars as it touched that elusive spot inside him that made him mull and writhe with so much pleasure, that his whole body shuttered as he sank himself down just to get more. He moaned and gasped as he clawed his own hands into his sopping wet hair, his legs lolling open further as his length twitched with want. He was wrapped in utter chaos and when Daiki's finger twitched again to give him what he wanted, he shook and let his throat rip.

"F-Fuck!... Nah! Daiki!... Please! Give me more!... I need more!" Taiga begged, his back arcing high as he threw his head back with mouth agape with pleasure.

Daiki's mouth twitched into a crooked smirk of pride and satisfaction that it was he whom was causing such things to escape Taiga's mouth, and wanting him to feel more alive than he had ever felt before, his greatest desire was to give him exactly what he wanted.

"Do you have any idea how sexy it is to hear you moan like that?" Daiki breathed out, biting his lip as he started to twitch his finger at regular, rhythmic intervals.

Taiga couldn't answer, couldn't even think as every nerve, every fiber of his being was pinpointed on the sensations ruining his body. He was vibrating so hard that he feared he would go numb and that would be the end of him, as it would take away the fire that was building low in his abdomen. He wanted to erupt, to explode into dust and when Daiki's other hand wrapped around his length to lift it from laying heavy on his belly, the added touch did just that.

Slapping his hands down onto the stone beneath him, Taiga's back arced back so hard that he was balanced on the top of his head as he was racked with that pleasurable explosion, shooting jets high into the air that actually rose higher than Daiki's head. He couldn't see anything, but white, couldn't smell, couldn't think, couldn't breathe. He was completely consumed with a single sense, that of the fire pulsing in his abdomen and as it began to level off, slowly ebbing away to leave him a burnt pile of ash, Taiga's vision and lungs finally began to work again.

Gripping his forehead as his back lowered back down, Taiga gulped down air to help settle his mind and once his vision started to clear and the finger slowly, almost gently slid free, he shuttered one last time as Daiki gazed down at him with his hands resting on his still parted thighs.

"W-Was that s-sexy enough?" Taiga managed to breathing out, running his hand back over his hair as he closed his eyes to rid his vision of the rising dizzy spell.

"Fuck yeah it was," he bit his lip, "I almost came just by listening to you." Daiki said, breathing a smile as he pulled on Taiga's thighs to grind him against his throbbing length that was aching for attention.

Taiga's breath hitched in his throat as Daiki's length was pressed firm between his legs, "I want you to."

Daiki grunted as he slipped his hand around to grip Taiga's ass, popping his hips up to firmly seat him over his length. He was anxious, almost desperate to find his own pleasure and it spurred him on to grind himself against Taiga whom moaned more at the sensation of having such a sensitive area rubbed. His hands ran up and down Taiga's thighs, squeezing them around his hips as he continued to roll forward and back, pressing firmer just because he was greedy. He wanted it all, wanted every inch of skin, every moan, every plead from him and he was going to make damn sure he was going to get it.

Biting down hard on his lip, Daiki scooped water over to wet their pelvises, slicking it over their skin and sliding his fingers between Taiga's ass to make sure it was wet. Taiga moaned more as he hazily watched him reach between them and position himself at the entrance that made Taiga go stiff with anticipation.

"Ah!... Daiki... I-I... I don't know-" Taiga tried to speak, but bit down on his knuckle to keep from screaming as a pleasurable tear fell from his eye.

"Relax, Taiga... I'll go slow." Daiki said, rubbing the tip of his length over the small entrance he intended to enter.

Taiga shook his head, but couldn't find the words as the painful stretch returned from Daiki beginning to slide into him. He couldn't relax to save his life, couldn't lessen the tension of his muscles anywhere on his body and when his body thundered when the tip managed to squeeze passed the threshold, Taiga screamed.

"Ah!... It's hot!" Taiga near cried, slamming his hands down onto the ground for some form of stability as his back arced up once more.

"I won't move... I won't move... Just breathe for me." Daiki chanted as he slid his hands over Taiga's sides to his back where he lifted him to straddle and sit in his lap.

Taiga was shaking as he wrapped his arms around Daiki's neck, interlocking his own fingers as his weight began to drop him down to make everything hotter. His throat whimpered the deeper Daiki sank and with his gentle hands, he guided him down until he was fully seated and stayed perfectly still so not to cause him anymore pain.

"Pretty sure this won't take long. I'm damn near there as is." Daiki said through heavy breath, wrapping an arm around Taiga's waist and gripping the nape of his neck to hold his head to his shoulder.

Taiga just nodded as he squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face into Daiki's neck, fully wrapping his arms around his shoulders just to hold onto something as Daiki began to move. He bit back a whimper as he rolled his hips, not wanting to bounce him, or jar him so painfully that he cried out. The rolls were just enough to make him want it more and despite feeling so full he was close to bursting, Taiga's pained grimace shifted into soft, airy gasps.

Sitting up, Taiga gripped Daiki's shoulders to help stabilize him as he gazed hard into those delicious blue eyes, sliding his hands up his neck to grasp his jaw. He softly winced as Daiki continued to roll into him, but with his blurry eyes that could barely see and breath that was short and laced with a moaned undertone, he bowed his head and claimed his lips.

Daiki kept it slow as he had promised, rolling in and out in slow, even and almost delicate motions that was just enough to ease Taiga's tension. It had started to feel good, started to feel exquisite even the more the man found that pleasurable spot, pressing it more and more to send up sparks into Taiga's vision that exploded like fireworks. Each time, he moaned into Daiki's mouth while he bit and sucked on his lower lip, lolling his legs further apart to lower his weight even more. It had earned him a moan from Daiki's throat and once his knees landed on the ground, giving him that leverage he needed, Taiga took over.

"G-God, Taiga!... Shit!... Here it comes... I-I can't hold it anymore." Daiki mulled, tightening his arms around him as Taiga rose and fell just as smoothly as he had rolled his hips.

"Me neither... It's gonna... Nah... Happen... Nah!... Now!"

Taiga came undone the moment he came down, fully dropping his weight down to completely take Daiki in. There was so much pressure, so much filling him that when he spilled over, the heat was more intense than his own flames. He burned from the inside, feeling the liquid heat seep out like water leaking from a trough as he shivered, gripping Daiki's shoulders so tightly that his fingers began to dig.

"Hey... Easy." Daiki exhaled, his mouth soft as he held on to help himself come down from his high.

Taiga gulped, "S-Sorry... I'm still kinda... unsteady." He panted, releasing a shoulder to swipe away a line of drool that had crawled from between his agape lips.

"It's okay," he drifted a hand up his back to cup his cheek, "I'm sorry if I hurt you." Daiki said, closing his eyes and resting his forehead to Taiga's as he just took a moment to recover.

Taiga shook his head, "I'm fine... It only hurt at first." He near whispered, fluttering his fingers down Daiki's cheek and neck.

"Good." Daiki said.

They remained silent while they let the spray from the water cool their skin and for their muscles to stop shaking, never moving, or opening their eyes as they let the world go on without them. They were content to let it, to forget them, to ignore them as if they were just shadows, and when they finally opened their eyes to drink in the other, their hearts returned to normal.

Slicking his tongue over his lips, Daiki gripped Taiga's hips and helped steady him as he slipped off and pulled free of their connection, staying on his knees while he positioned himself beneath the curtain of water. He felt liberated, like he had been lifted up so high that the world seemed minuscule below him and as the water ran down his body and warm hands came down on his back, he saw an endearing gaze fill Daiki's eyes.

"Maybe now we can think about how best to get into that canyon without causing ourselves more problems." Daiki started to laugh, rocking forward onto a knee to bring their foreheads together.

Taiga smiled wide, "Yeah... I guess we just needed to get that out of our system." He flicked some water into Daiki's face, making him flinch.

Daiki's smile erupted even wider, but in that moment, it was whipped clear when a heavy snap resounded from the trees. Both instantly silenced as they scanned the forest, only staying still for a moment before scurrying to put some clothes on, but just as Taiga slipped on his shirt after having pulled on his pants, he didn't even have enough time to tie it closed when the cause of the snap appeared through the trees.

Daiki's and Taiga's eyes shot wide as six orcs emerged, all gripping axes in each hand and with angry, bloody red eyes glued on them. Their huge, gnarly teeth were bared as they stalked closer, but when a deep, growling, unnatural voice broke through the trees from behind them, they stopped and refused to take their eyes off of them.

"I knew I recognized that unmistakable scent." Said the voice; A deep, thundering voice that came from a throat that hid flame.

Taiga gulped as he glanced over at Daiki, not even looking away as heavy stomps broke more branches. They could feel the ground shake with each step, see the trees sway as those that were smaller were pushed aside with wooden cracks. They didn't have to see it to know what was coming, what stomped so heavily through the trees that they could feel it in their feet, as they had seen it already.

They knew it was the dragonkin.

Another hard stomp came down to snap a thick branch as a dark shadow emerged through the darkness of the trees where two, claw tipped hands threaded threw and pushed aside a pair of trees as if they were people in a crowd. The trees fell to be caught by their brethren, but it went unnoticed the giant beast stepped from the shadows and into the light.

"Scent of what?" Daiki exhaled, his shaking eyes frozen on the huge dragonkin as it's blood red eyes stared down at them.

"That ashen sulfur... That lingering scent of flame and brimstone. One of you is harboring a secret." The dragonkin sneered, his jowls that covered his long teeth curling up as his sharp brow ridges pulled down.

Taiga's breath caught in his throat as he stared with unblinking eyes at the giant beast whom was as big, if not bigger than he was in his natural form.

"It would seem that The Order of Draken Blood wasn't as thorough as they had hoped." The dragonkin said with a low cackling laugh set firmly into his thick throat.

Daiki gulped, "You're mistaken... We're just... lost." He lied, sliding a foot back as he grabbed a fistful of Taiga's shirt to tug him back with him.

The dragonkin stood up straight and exhaled a long stream of smoke from his nostrils, "I don't believe you, Human, and there's a very good reason why."

"Yeah?... What's that?" Daiki asked, never once taking his eyes off the dragonkin as he continued to step back and bring Taiga with him whom didn't refuse.

"Because you act as if you're not staring at a demon. You aren't screaming and cowering in fear. In fact, you both gaze at me as if you know what I am." The dragonkin said, lifting a massive, clawed foot and taking a single stride forward that was heavy and shattering.

Both Daiki's and Taiga's eyes widened.

"D-Daiki?... We're caught." Taiga whispered, his teeth starting to chatter from his blood being pumped full of adrenaline.

"Yes you are... You will come in very handy once we break into the Temple of Amalphia. How old are you?" The dragonkin asked, his bloody eyes narrowing as he glared hard at Taiga.

Taiga's heart rate sped up, "230."

"D'aw... Just a pup, but no matter... Your heart will be a great asset." The dragonkin said with a growing smirk.

"You can't have it!" Daiki suddenly barked out as he sidestepped around Taiga to stand in front of him, shielding him from the orcs and furious dragonkin.

However, instead of getting angry, the dragonkin started to laugh out loud, throwing his head back with his jaws open with the deep, almost thunderous guffaws. The sound rolled through the trees, echoing despite the enclosed space and the longer it went on, the more the orcs joined in.

"You are hardly in the position to protest, Human. Your friend... Or should I say, lover, is a Drake hiding right in front of your nose and I happen to know for a fact, that Humans hate Drakes with all of their being." The dragonkin said as his laughter fell off, returning to glaring down at them hard as his huge clawed hands curled into fists at his sides.

"I know." Daiki said without thinking.

Taiga's breath caught in his throat as he finally tore his eyes away from the dragonkin to look at Daiki, how his eyes were narrowed and firmly set on the creature without an ounce of terror coloring his dark features.

"N-No-" his breath fell flat, "You weren't supposed to admit that." Taiga said, frozen where he stood as he swallowed hard enough to move his Adam's apple.

"You're aware he's a Drake?" The dragonkin asked.

Daiki nodded, "Yes... I've known ever since I met him, but it doesn't matter to me."

The dragonkin tilted his head in curiosity, "What do you mean, Human?... Are trying to say that you think you love him? That your heart has been captivated by him?"

"That's what I'm saying." Daiki said flatly as he released Taiga's shirt to take his hand.

Taiga's eyes started to sting and shake, "Daiki... Shut up!" He hissed out with a broken voice.

Daiki stared down the dragonkin, never flinching, or shying away from the bloody red gaze. He merely gripped Taiga's hand tighter, lacing their fingers together with no intentions of letting go. His shoulders had rolled back to stand up tall and his breathing had evened, and Taiga could tell in that moment that there was no way Daiki was going to back down.

"Ooooh... Fortune, it seems, has smiled on us this day. We have waited eons for Amalphia's Harbingers to make themselves known." The dragonkin said lowly, righting his head as he started to smile with intent clear on his dragon-like face.

"I told you to shut up." Taiga said lowly, his whole body shaking as he stared at Daiki with fear filling his shaking eyes that had gone glassy.

"Amalphia's Harbingers?" Daiki asked, his brows furrowing even more as he ignored Taiga, but held his hand firm.

"You don't know?" The dragonkin asked.

Daiki just shook his head.

"Ask your lover." The dragonkin said plainly.

Finally blinking as he sucked in a huge, lung filling breath, Daiki turned his eyes to meet Taiga's, seeing them barely being able to keep their grip on the heavy moisture that threatened to spill over. He looked scared, almost as if he was facing his worst nightmare, but despite that, he spoke with a cracking voice that made Daiki's chest ache.

"R-Remember when I told you that Amalphia would wait for true love?" Taiga asked, taking in shaking breaths that barely made it into his lungs.

Daiki nodded, but kept his gaze.

"T-The only love she would accept is the love between a Human and a Drake. The Order of Draken Blood thought they could prevent it by killing us off, but there were some that thought otherwise. They believed that if they could find that pair, those Harbingers... that they could fall into Amalphia's favor and use it for their gains. Those are the Dragonkin... H-Him." Taiga explained as the first tear dove from behind his bottom lid, lifting his available hand to point at the beast with a shaky finger.

Daiki's shoulders fell.

"You see?... When the Drakes were slaughtered like cattle, the Dragonkin thought they would never be found, even their bones would have done us good, but finding a living pair; The living Harbingers of Amalphia... I, the Blood of the Beating Heart, will finally be able to fulfill my bloodline's legacy." The dragonkin said, his toothy grin making both Daiki and Taiga gulp.

"L-Legacy?... You can't be... S-She severed your line." Taiga choked out.

"No... She bore it. She is the reason we exist and we will see to it that she suffers for her cruelty to Man. I, Ebony Scalder, will bring about her undoing." He said, raising his thick arms out to the side to present himself like some glory to behold.

"What're you think you're gonna do?" Daiki snapped, releasing Taiga's hand to ball his fists and take a take a step forward.

"You'll find out... Capture them alive!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **Author's Note: I promise I won't leave you depressed! I will leave you happy, so hang in there! Just an FYI, I am incapable of handling this part without crying.**

Taiga was terrified, so frozen with fear that just seeing the orcs stalk closer and closer to them was enough to make him near drop to his knees. He didn't want to believe it, he had even lied to himself that what he and Daiki had was just a physical thing; An attraction to help pass the time, but when Daiki had proclaimed that he had his heart, he wasn't able to deny it any longer.

He had to accept that it was them whom were the Harbingers of Amalphia.

The orcs drew in closer, and the sudden sound of Daiki pulling his twin short blades was enough to snap Taiga back into reality. They were only a few steps away, close enough to bring them within rage of spears if they had had any. Ebony Scalder's laughter hit his ears like nearby thunder and as he realized their situation, how much danger they were in, Taiga's fear vanished in an instant.

Sucking in a hissing breath that was so huge, it barreled his chest, Taiga stepped in front of Daiki and let a roar so tremendous, so earth shattering burst from his throat that the orcs halted their steps to shield their ears. The sound echoed through the air as the faintest glow of red began to flutter up from Taiga's skin, and at the sight of it, Daiki's brows furrowed as the roar leveled off.

"I won't let you take him!" Taiga boomed, sucking in another long breath that popped and growled deep inside him.

"There's that Drake fight... How long has it been since you were in your natural born form?" Ebony asked, stomping his foot to widen his stance as his huge leathery wings rose up to make him appear even larger.

"Just a few days." Taiga sneered, hissing and bearing his teeth at the orcs as they started to back off.

"I see... So you don't have the power to change back." Ebony grinned.

"You're wrong."

Daiki's eyes snapped wide as the crimson glow flashed huge like roaring flames, waving and licking at the sky like smoky fingers. His skin pimpled at the sensation crawling over his skin and as he stepped back, giving Taiga room, his breath was taken away.

Clawing his hands, Taiga curled his arms up as his muscles bulged, growing in size as his physical form began to change and his clothes began to tear. His fingers thickened, sprouting long, flesh rending claws as his shoulders snapped forward and his torso lengthened. The twin horns thrust from his skull while his face elongated and his hair sucked back into his head, his shoulder blades bulging out as his giant wings grew from his sides and a tail emerged from the end of his spine. His lightly tanned skin darkened to deep crimson as his hide returned and as another huge sucking breath filled his draconian lungs, snaking down his lengthening neck, Taiga fell forwards onto all fours, raised his dragon head and roared.

"T-Taiga?" Daiki gasped, his eyes wide as he fell back onto his backside and stared up at the Drake.

Taiga's teeth were still bared, but at his name, his jowls softened as he turned his head to the side just enough to gaze at him with one familiar, crimson eye.

"No one gets to you." Taiga said, his voice far deeper and returned to the one Daiki had first heard what seemed like ages ago.

"You got your power back?" Daiki reeled as he pushed himself up to his feet.

"I've had it back... Since the morning we woke up in the inn." Taiga admitted, his crimson eyes turning down with what Daiki swore was shame.

"You stayed a Human-" Daiki exhaled, but cut himself off when he swallowed.

Taiga nodded, "I liked the way you looked at me when I was." He said, his head turned down as if he was hanging it.

"It's no different now, Taiga... No matter what form you're in, I'll look at you the same way." Daiki said, stepping up to him where Taiga dropped his head to push it into his torso.

Daiki closed his eyes as he nuzzled his forehead to Taiga's long snout, resting his hands softly over his split eye ridges as he placed a tender kiss to the wide swath of hide between his eyes that made him almost purr with a low growl. The Drake nuzzled further into him, but with the returned thunder of an evil laugh, Daiki's eyes angered as he shifted his glare to the dragonkin.

"How touching." Ebony sneered, clawing his razor sharp fingers in preparation to draw blood.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through me." Taiga said, all endearment gone from his eyes as he raised his head and trained both crimson eyes on the sneering being that was the same size as he was.

"I want both of you. I would much rather prefer you both be alive for when I splatter you blood on her alter, but your broken bodies will do just the same." Ebony smirked with a crooked grin.

"You don't know Amalphia's legend very well if you think dumping the bodies of her Harbingers on her alter will win you her favor." Taiga glared, his claws digging into the ground without trouble as his anger began to show.

"I want her broken-"

"You won't succeed! Not so long as I still stand as a Drake, and a lover! It will be me who stops you in her name! I, Taiga of the Kagami Brood, will stop you before you even get the change!" Taiga boomed, his head high with pride with his teeth bared and his wings raised.

"Try your worst!"

Before the dragonkin could finish taking his step back, Taiga had lunged for him, bowling over the orcs with his claws outstretched and throat ripping with an angry snarl. Nothing, but anger filled his crimson eyes as he plowed into the beast where both tumbled into the trees, mowing them down and kicking up massive plumes of dirt. Taiga roared as he snapped for Ebony's neck, missing as he dodged each attempt and gripped his arms with claws that broke his hide. He ignored the pain as he planted all four feet into Ebony's chest and when he thrust them out, tossing Ebony up through the canopy, he spread his wings and launched himself into the air.

Free of the dense forest, Taiga instantly saw that Ebony had taken to wing and was flying back towards the canyon while he skimmed over the trees. He tore off after him, sucking in a huge breath to launch a fireball from his mouth like a missile, but it missed as Ebony banked around and came to a hover.

Taiga slowed and beat his huge wings to hover, watching as Ebony sucked in just as huge a breath as he did. His much shorter snout offered him a glimpse down his much shorter throat and he saw that telltale orange glow that told him what was coming.

He waited one final second before angling into a dive, blitzing towards the trees just as Ebony fired the fireball that screamed through the air like an arrow. He tucked his wings in to gain more speed, not even glancing back at the pursuing flame as he vanished below the canopy, only leaving behind a hole in the roof that served as the only clue as to where he had gone.

With a growl, Ebony hissed under his breath as he went for it, hovering just above as he watched and waited, expecting Taiga to suddenly emerge in a surprise attack. However, time only ticked by with no attack and as his frustration grew, Ebony began to lower closer to the trees.

Suddenly, Taiga's clawed paw burst through the leaves and grabbed his ankle, yanking him down as if he had just been caught by a shark and threw him hard into the trunk of a young tree. It instantly shattered as if it exploded, splitting into thousands of pieces as Ebony careened onto the root covered dirt and skidded, leaving behind a ditch that was littered with broken pieces of wood.

Clinging to the trees, Taiga releasing his hold and dropped to the forest floor, snarling and glaring hard at Ebony as he rolled onto his side. He stalked closer, lowering his head like a tiger having zeroed in on its pray and once he was within range, he sucked in a huge breath and let that very brimstone go.

The blown fire roared through the air as it hit its target, instantly splaying out like spilled water as the trees ignited around where Ebony laid. A pained howl broke through the flames, but Taiga couldn't see through the scorching curtain. His lungs were nearly empty, and as the last of the fire's fuel ran out, he sucked in a breath to refill his lungs with the precious air that served a duel purpose.

"You vial pup... You know nothing!" Ebony's pained voice said, fluttering up from the blackened ground that had been scorched by Taiga's flames.

"I know plenty. I know who my heart belongs to and I'll do everything to protect him, just like he protected me!" Taiga shot back, stalking closer and beginning to circle, never taking his eyes off the black and steaming heap.

Ebony's furious eyes snapped open, almost glowing amongst the black as he moved. Every inch crackled off the charred wood and dirt from his charcoal colored hide, having stuck when he had been thrown and fell off as if he was shedding his own skin.

"Does that include perishing at my feet?" Ebony growled, pushing himself up and shaking his large wings to shed the debris.

"If that's what it takes to make sure Daiki survives, than so be it! He's given me everything I've ever wanted! Everything I've ever longed for and I won't let you take it away from us!" Taiga roared, hopping over a large root as he continued to circle and stalk.

"Such conviction for such a young soul." Ebony growled, his jowl curling as his eyes followed the stalking Drake.

"I may be young as far as the Drakes are concerned, but I'm old enough to know what I want." Taiga said, his voice low, but still clearly angry.

"We'll see as I crush his puny skull in my palm."

With a burst of speed, Ebony charged back towards where they had come and Taiga knew what he was trying to do. He was rushing back to where they had been found, to where he knew Daiki was handling the orcs and he couldn't let that happen; Couldn't let this beast reach the man he had come to love. He sprinted after him, zigzagging through the trees and keeping his wings in close so they didn't snag. He bounded for him, slamming his paws into the ground so hard that the impacts shuttered his muscles, but he didn't care. He only cared about reaching the dragonkin just ahead of him.

As the trees began to thin, Taiga spread his wings just enough to lengthen his jump as he lunged, outstretching his arms with his claws curled. It was enough to sink them into Ebony's back where he planted his feet, yanking him back where he screamed with howling pain. He flailed to get free, but it only spurred Taiga on to grip him harder as he thrust him down into the ground and bit down hard onto the dragonkin's shoulder.

Ebony roared even louder, but with Taiga's head locked into position, he reached up and raked a clawed hand down his face, instantly drawing blood as Taiga released his jaws. He screamed up as his claws removed themselves from his back and as he hopped up from having been released, he took the chance to draw more of the Drake's blood.

He lunged and bowled Taiga over onto his back, pinning him to the ground as he swiped his claws to land a few blows along Taiga's arms. He screamed more, but quickly sucked in a breath to unleash a giant blaze that slammed into Ebony's face and blew him off.

The dragonkin gone, Taiga flipped around and gave his clawed arms a quick glance. They were bleeding, but the wounds weren't deep enough to warrant anymore worry then that they could possibly scar. The pain was fiery, but as Ebony righted himself from being hit in the face with a blast of fire, Taiga didn't give him a chance to regain his bearings.

He was wobbly on his feet, dazed from the flames, but Taiga barreled into him and sunk all four sets of claws into his flesh before downbeating his wings and lifting them both into the air. He burst through the canopy and into the hot sun, rising higher and higher with his blood still boiling with anger. The beast in his grasp had threatened someone he cared deeply for, had tried to get back to him and he swore, that even if it cost him his life, he would stop Ebony Scalder from succeeding.

However, as he continued to climb, Taiga's side erupted with massive and burning pain, causing him to wail and slink away as his grip on the dragonkin released. The moment he did, the burning pain stopped and he realized then that Ebony had unleashed his own billow of fire to burn his side.

"I will burn you inside and out!" Ebony howled, hovering as Taiga flailed and scrapped his side to make the burn go away.

Taiga grit his teeth together as he finished stopping the burn, hovering as he huffed his pain out through his flared nostrils.

"No... You won't." Taiga breathed, growling as he forcibly controlled his breathing to maintain his stamina.

"I'll prove it to you!"

With a huge, powerful sweep of his black wings, Ebony launched upwards, rushing for Taiga whom wasted no time in taking to a dive. The Drake was fast, far faster than any other Drake he had ever encountered in his long life thus far, but there was something about this young one, this Drake whom had somehow survived the culling, that he didn't understand, but he didn't have much time to think when Taiga suddenly spread his wings to instantly stall his dive.

Taiga flipped around and bared his claws and teeth as Ebony collided with him and both fell towards the fast approaching canopy. He sunk them deep into the charcoal black flesh before biting down on Ebony's neck, squeezing his jaws closed as tight as possible that caused the dragonkin to writhe with pain and gargle for breath. He had him in a death grip, but both were falling, and as he sucked in a giant breath through his nose, he knew he had to do it, had to protect Daiki at all costs, even if it meant his downfall. They were falling, tumbling down towards a forest that would much rather see them dead. He didn't have much time until the ground reached out for him, but trusting his heart, trusting Daiki, he unleashed that breath in the form of cleansing fire.

* * *

The clash of swords and axes rang through the trees, some closely followed by screams of pain and the wet splash of blood that stained the ground and tinted the water. It wasn't the first time he had handled six orcs, not by a long shot, but when Taiga had mowed them down in his lunge to get to Ebony, it had bought him time to ready himself.

Daiki wheeled around to clang both swords into an axe, knocking it away before it had found purchase with his side. It made him grin, but he didn't have much time to gloat as another axe attempted to meet his head. He ducked and smashed an elbow into the orc's gut, flipping his downward facing sword up before snapping his arm up to bury the short blade into the orc's chest. The male didn't even scream before dropping to the ground and as Daiki pulled the blade, he swiped it in a huge arc and managed to slice another's cheek.

As that orc barked his pain, a female charged for him, her twin axes raised, but with her greater size and strength, Daiki was forced onto the defensive. He crossed his swords to stop her attack, but he was being pushed back against the rock as his muscles bulged with all his strength just to keep her at bay. He grit his teeth together as he tried to push her away, but he couldn't make her budge as the highly honed edges of her axes inched closer and closer to his face.

"Gah!... You ugly bitch!... Get away from me!" Daiki hissed, pulling up a large ball of spittle from his throat before launching it out.

It was a crude method, but an effective one as the female orc howl with disgust and backed off, swiping her hand down her face to rid it of the offending saliva. She was distracted, and he used that to his advantage as he buried both blades into her back and severed the ligaments that allowed her to use her arms. The axes dropped to the ground with heavy clunks as he planted his foot into her back and thrust his leg out. She flew into another orc where both fell to the ground and with two momentarily out of commission, it afforded Daiki a little leeway to gut another orc and slice the arm off another, but when a far off and familiar howl sounded from somewhere over the trees, Daiki froze and looked up towards the sky.

"Taiga!" Daiki screamed, but he had no more time to do much more than that until the only remaining, uninjured orc got to his feet.

Daiki was suddenly yanked back by his hair and tossed into the rock where his forehead smashed against it, instantly causing him to bleed as if he had just had a hole blown into his skull. The blood tinted his vision, seeped into his mouth and as he turned around to face his attacker, he was pinned back with a large, strong hand crushing his head back against the rock.

The twin swords dropped to the ground as he reached up and gripped the orc's wrists, digging his nails into the sickly green flesh with the hope of causing just enough pain to be released, but nothing was happening. His head was spiking with pain as the searing grind sounded in his ears, soon followed by a crackle as his skull strained to resist the strength. His brain was being crushed beneath the orc's hand and as he grit his teeth to try and bit back the scream, the pain soon won.

Every muscle going tight in his entire 6'3 body, Daiki screamed as the pain became too much, grew to such a degree that he couldn't hear and couldn't see. All he could feel was the pain in his skull the more the orc crushed it back against the rock, but in no more time than it took for him to breathe, the hand was suddenly gone.

Released, Daiki dropped to the ground, holding his head from the pain and swiping away the blood, but in his blurry vision, he watched a crimson figure fight against the remaining orcs. It swept its long tail, plowing it into the gut of an orc before a thick arm came around and snatched another up, squeezing the orc so tightly that every bone in his body was crushed. It threw the body before a heated blast of fire burst from its mouth, sweeping across the forest to set it on fire and when the last orc, being the one whom had nearly crushed his skull, lunged for an attack, the crimson figure noticed.

With a huge maw, the crimson figure roared and bit down on the orc's midsection, squeezing hard until several pops sounded, but they were soon overshadowed by the heavy drops of blood as the large mass of crimson continued to bite. It squeezed more and more until his jaws came together and severed the orc in two where the two halves flopped to the ground with wet thunks and slimy crackles.

"T-Taiga?" Daiki choked out, holding his forehead as he closed an eye with the hopes of clearing his vision from not only the blood, but the pain.

"Daiki!"

He blinked a few times and luckily, he was graced with slightly clearer vision to see Taiga before him, covered in bleeding wounds and with an angry burn to his side. He favored his front left leg that had been clawed, refusing to even put it down, but in his hand, he held a severed head, that of a horned dragonkin with bloody red eyes that were frozen open.

"You won-" Daiki breathed out as he leaned back against the rock to help him stand as he rose up onto his feet.

"I-I... I hurt." Taiga panted, his voice hazed as he limped closer to him.

Daiki gulped down his own pain as he pushed off the stone, shuffling towards the Drake with rising desperation to get to him. Seeing him so injured, so spent, it made his heart ache, and as he reached out for Taiga's head, that very Drake gave up and dropped to the ground.

As Taiga head hit the ground, Daiki dropped to his knees beside him, instantly leaning over him and pressing his lips to an eye ridge as he cradle his head. He squeezed his eyes closed that instantly shed tears as he tightened his hold, and he was soon sobbing, wanting Taiga to wake up, to say something, anything. He was beaten up, sure, but he knew in the bottom of his heart that Taiga was tougher than this. He had protected him, took away the greatest threat just like he had done, but he feared, was terrified that it had cost him the highest of price.

"Taiga please... Please open your eyes. Don't leave me here." Daiki sobbed, lifting his head to pet Taiga's bloodied and clawed head.

However, he didn't move, but with each labored breath he took helped him battle against his fear of losing him. They were strained breaths, wheezing, but he continued to make them on his own and that was the sole reason Daiki's world still existed.

"Taiga... Come on, Buddy... I'm okay. We did it. You saved me." Daiki said, sniffling hard as he continued to run his hands over the Drake's head.

"A-Are we even?"

Hearing Taiga's voice, Daiki began to smile, laughing with relief and more sobs as he dropped to hold the Drake's head to his chest. He kissed all along the eye ridge, but when he came too close to a bleeding claw mark, Taiga flinched and winced.

"Ow!... That's tender." Taiga said, steadying his breathing as his eye rolled open and focused in on Daiki.

"Sorry... You alright?" Daiki asked, fully sitting down as he heaved Taiga's head to rest in his lap that he didn't refuse.

"Can I be done getting hurt now?" Taiga huffed a smirk as he just laid there with his head in Daiki's lap while he stroked his long snout, taking time to avoid the claw marks that raked down it.

Daiki smiled down at him, "I don't think my heart can take it." He said, fluttering his fingers over the small nose horn on the tip of Taiga's snout.

"Me neither." Taiga said quietly as he just rested.

Daiki stared down into that deep crimson eye for what seemed like forever, watching it blink back up at him as it slowly regained its focus. His breathing seemed to settle the longer they sat there, just staring at each other while Daiki comforted and ran his hand up and down Taiga's long snoot. He was so relieved that he was alright, could just let life end right then there, but when his eyes flicked over to see the discarded head laying in the dirt forgotten, he suddenly remembered that there was still a canyon full of orcs nearby.

"Why the head?" Daiki asked quietly, still stroking as he used his shirt to clean away some of the blood off Taiga's hide.

"Orcs always follow the strongest... Once they see their leader dead, they'll scatter." Taiga said, finally regaining enough strength to roll back onto his stomach and lift his head.

"Then we can go for it." Daiki said, drifting his hand down Taiga's head, under his jaw.

"And wish for what?" Taiga asked.

"Whatever we want. M-Maybe we could use that Ebony guy's heart." Daiki said, licking his lips as he rose onto his knees to place a gentle kiss to the end of Taiga's nose.

"I wouldn't... That's about as corrupt as it gets. It's his bloodline that caused all this anyways. A thousand lifetimes ago, it was the Scalder bloodline that tried to break Amalphia with the heart of a broodmother." Taiga briefly explained, closing his eyes and lowly groaning as he tried to feel the sensation of Daiki's lips on his hide, but it was too faint.

"Then what?" Daiki asked, lifting his lips.

Taiga just shrugged as he watched Daiki rise to his feet, scuffling over to the waterfall where he picked up a shredded piece of cloth from the ground before wetting it. He walked back and began to clean Taiga's head, being gentle and taking extra care to avoid aggravating his wounds. He focused mainly on his head, but after cleaning his own head wound and looking over the others that riddled Taiga's body, he sighed with a frown that he couldn't do much more than that.

"We'll need to head back to town." Daiki said, resting his hand down on Taiga's head as he pushed himself up to his feet with a groan.

"When we're done... Get on." Taiga said firmly as he lowered his neck to let Daiki climb on.

Daiki didn't even hesitate as he threw a leg up and over the base of Taiga's neck, gripping a spine to have something to hold onto while the Drake moved. He held on tight as Taiga grabbed a horn of the severed head and spread his wings, thrusting them down hard to rise into the air as if he had just jumped. It wasn't the first time Daiki had ridden bareback, but it required much more concentration and strength just to keep from sliding off. With no saddle, he could feel every muscle move between his legs, feel the heat of Taiga's skin and it made him feel as if they were closer than ever.

The wind felt liberating to them both as Taiga flew back towards the fisher, pushing away to heat of the aging day for some sort of break. He could die up there and be perfectly alright with it, but with Taiga below him, carrying him and mostly alright, he wanted nothing, but to live with him by his side for as long as he could. Even if it was for only a hundred years.

They hadn't been able to go far from the canyon, so they were soon gliding over it to see the army of orc workers still plugging away. They had no idea that their leader had been killed and as Taiga began a gentle slope down, dipping into the canyon, he slowed and came to a hover near the temple and under thousands of stunned gazes.

"Your leader is dead! He went against a true Drake, one born from that of a broodmother and a broodsire and this was his punishment! Make your choice if you wish the same, or leave with your lives, but take too long and all of you will burn!" Taiga boomed, holding up the severed head as he roared with clear victory.

The workers, very few of which were warriors threw down their tools and ran, bowling over those whom had wanted to fight, but were carried off by the wave of fleeing peons. The stampede sounded like a rushing river in the canyon as they fled and all Taiga and Daiki did was hover there and watch until there was no one left behind.

Taiga touched down onto the hot dirt and tossed the head, not carrying at all where it went as he drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, his body beginning to glow again with the wispy red and smokey flames. He began to shrink in size just like what had happened in the forest, save for in reverse, and soon, Taiga stood before Daiki nude, and Human.

However, his skin was riddled with wounds that were far more apparent, and with a sympathetic wince, Daiki slipped off his cloak and wrapped it around him, smiling the whole time as they gazed into each others eyes. They were finally beginning to calm down from their ordeal, to relax with the thought that they could return to their normal lives and when each bowed their heads to press their foreheads together, it was taken away.

With a hard whistle, Daiki's eyes snapped wide as his mouth gasped, sucking hard and labored breaths as his deep blue eyes filled with moisture. Taiga's heart started to ache as he caught Daiki before he fell, bringing him to his chest as he lowered him down, but that's when he saw it; An arrow sticking through his chest and dripping in blood.

"Daiki?... No-... No!" Taiga cried out, cradling Daiki to his chest as he yanked the arrow free to cause more blood to spill out.

Taiga looked down the canyon to see a lone orc, holding a bow and with his arms out from having just released the arrow. His face was blank, unreadable and without a word, or a gesture, he merely turned and left, leaving him to suffer as he watched the man he loved bleed.

"T-T-Taiga... G-Go for it." Daiki choked out, struggling to take a breath as blood started to seep from between his lips.

"N-No... N-No, you can't die... Not now. Please." Taiga began to cry as he pressed his hand over Daiki's heart; Where it was bleeding from.

"G-G-Go... B-B-Before my h-heart s-stops b-beating." Daiki said, each breath wheezing as he just laid there in his arms to conserve what little life he had left.

Taiga shook his head as tears feel, "No... I'm not using your heart. It's not gonna happen." He said, placing his hand against Daiki's cooling cheek.

Daiki struggled hard to take in a breath as he raised a hand to return the gesture, placing it shakily against Taiga's cheek and managing to smile at how warm it felt.

"W-W-Wish for them... B-B-Bring back t-t-the D-D-Drakes." Daiki started to grimace from his fading pain.

Again, Taiga shook his head, "I don't want them... I want you. I wanna live with you... Die with you. I don't want people I don't know. Even if it is for only a hundred years... It'll be the best hundred years of my life and once your gone... I'm gone." He whispered, swiping away a tear from Daiki's bloodied cheek that had fallen from his jaw.

"No... Y-Y-You live for m-me... I-I c-can't live with m-myself knowing it's m-my fault your l-life got c-cut short... D-Don't curse m-my soul l-like that." Daiki stuttered, his bottom lip quivering as his hand dropped from Taiga's cheek.

"I can't promise that... I love you too much to live my life without you. Please, Daiki... Please, don't do this to me. Don't leave me alone." Taiga sobbed, sniffling as his heart began to shatter.

"T-T-The d-d-dagger... U-U-Use it." Daiki said, but only in a whisper, as that was as loud as he could get.

That was it. Taiga knew exactly what he had to do, how to save this man dying in his arms from an arrow to the heart. He would do it, even if it cost it him his own life and as he slipped both arms beneath him, Taiga lifted Daiki up and rushed for the Temple of Amalphia.

The ornate entrance was nearly open, being adorned with bleeding hearts and a goddess so beautiful that it took pain away. He kicked it open, stopping to peer into the darkness before looking down at the man in his arms. He still breathed, but they were shallow, barely there. He was running out of time and with the last of his heart, Taiga stepped into the dark and rushed down the long, beautifully carved hallway.

Temples were simple. They didn't have complex mazes, or different directions to go and get lost in. They were easy; Nothing more than a hallway that lead into a big room so large that even the largest of Drakes would fit inside without difficulty. There was no light at first, but with each step, the fire bowls built into the walls erupted with flame by an unseen source. Taiga never slowed as he hurried deeper inside, not caring about the much cooler air and as the flames rushed past him to light the main room of the temple, he froze just from the glory of it.

The Temple of Amalphia was a grand structure, built entirely into the earth with flawless seems and perfect chisels. Each sculpture, each figure of her was so perfect that they were as if they were made by Amalphia herself and as the fire ran around the room, held at bay by a trough that encircled the entire thing, the grand alter at the back of the room appeared.

Taiga's heart was racing as he sucked in breaths, setting his crying eyes on the golden and glinting dagger resting in its cradle on top of the carved stone alter. He glanced down at Daiki, but when he saw that he had closed his eyes, he started to panic.

"Daiki?... Daiki!... Wake up!" Taiga snapped, shaking Daiki in his arms as he stared and held his breath.

At the sudden jarring, Daiki's wheezing breath broke the cavernous silence as his eyes opened, but only halfway, as that was all he could muster.

"You scared me." Taiga forced a smile, but kept his voice low.

However, instead of speaking, Daiki just nodded as he weakly reached up and clutched a barely there fistful of the cloak covering him. There was no more time to waste, Taiga knew it as he rushed for the alter and knelt down, keeping Daiki cradled in his arms as he brushed aside his bloodied hair.

"I know what to wish for... I know what I want." Taiga said, his voice full of conviction as he held Daiki's fading gaze.

"D-D-Don't do it... f-f-for me." Daiki said, his words so soft that Taiga feared he would miss them if he didn't concentrate hard enougj.

"You can't stop me... We're gonna live and we're gonna die together." Taiga said, bending down to place a kiss to Daiki's forehead.

"I c-c-can't live w-w-with that. I-I-I'm not w-w-worth it." Daiki said as his teeth started to chatter.

"You're worth more than you think... I love you, Daiki... I love you with all my heart and even if it costs me mine, you'll live." Taiga said before reaching up and plucking the dagger from its cradle.

With a flick of his wrist, the ornately carved, golden sheath of the dagger clattered to the floor, skittering away to be forgotten as Taiga stared at the silver blade. It was only a foot long, but it was carved with a language he didn't understand. He didn't care as he angled the point at his own chest, staring down into Daiki's fading eyes the whole time, but when another hand encased his, both wrapped around the dagger's handle, he didn't have the will to resist it turning the blade away from his own chest and aiming its blade down.

"M-M-Mine." Daiki choked out as his breathing started to get worse, the blood pouring nonstop from his chest.

"I can't-" Taiga tried, but he didn't have a choice.

Before Taiga could argue anymore, say another word, the last of Daiki's strength forced the dagger down, plunging it into his already wounded heart. Daiki's eyes went wide, but only for a moment before his breath stopped and all Taiga could see was the last flicker of life leave his deep blue eyes.

"Daiki?... Why did you do that?" Taiga asked, his eyes spilling over as he stared at their joined hands on the handle of the dagger.

He received no answer.

"Daiki?... D-Daiki?" Taiga asked, but again he received no answer.

Life didn't matter anymore. It was all just a big lie, a fake, a worthless promise. The only thing that mattered to him was gone, laying in his arms without making a single movement, or taking a single breath. The only kindness he had every known, the only love he had ever felt was gone and he felt so numb, so lifeless as he just held him that he wanted to be swallowed up and forgotten. Air had no more scent, colors meant nothing. All he could taste was a nothingness that was cruel and heartless. He wanted to stop breathing right then and there, to follow him, but if _she_ had anything to say about it, _she_ would grant their wish.

"Do not cry, My Child... I have heard your wish. I have heard both of them."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 **Author's Note: I promised I'd heal... So here it is :). The Epilogue is soon to follow, so lets start with the end of A Dragon's Heart. All my love!**

The tears still came. There was no way he could stop them as he held the stilled body of the man he loved wholly and truly. His skin felt cold and even the blood that had stained everything was cooling off far faster than he thought. His own skin felt cold, numb and he didn't even feel the heat of his own blood that trickled from his wounds, but that was all lost on him at what stood before him, bathed in a ring of bright white light; A woman so beautiful, so radiant that even Taiga's breath was taken away.

She was tall with long, slender legs wrapped in dark caramel skin and long, flowing white hair that trailed down to the floor. She wore a simple white robe held closed by a golden rope, one that flowed and fluttered as if caught in a breeze and grazed over her skin so softly that it was almost like water. He eyes sparkled gold and were filled with so much mirth, so much admiration as she smiled, that Taiga had no words.

"I have heard you, Taiga of the Kagami brood. I have heard what beats in your heart and it is true. Even though his heart has stilled, I hear it. It screams for me to listen and it is a beautiful song." She said, her voice echoing all around as if coming at him from all directions.

"He's gone." Taiga managed to say, never taking his hand away from Daiki's as both still held the dagger that was buried in his chest.

"But your heart wishes for him to return; To live a healthy life and one filled with happiness." She said, interlocking her hands neatly in front of her as she gazed at them.

"I'll do anything." Taiga whispered as his never ending tears dripped from his jaw.

"I know... Words do not need to be said for me to understand. I see inside both your hearts and it is the very thing I have waited a thousand lifetimes of a thousand Drakes to see." She said, still looking down at him with kindness in her eyes.

"So it is us?... We're your Harbingers?" Taiga asked, his hold on Daiki tightening as he refused to move.

The Goddess nodded, "You are... I watched with horror as The Order of Draken Blood culled the Drakes; How they so heartlessly ripped them from this world over jealously. I thought love would never exist again, but you two... You two are the most precious beings to walk this earth." She said, still softly smiling.

"I'm the last of the Drakes... There's nothing for me here other than him. I don't wanna live 100,000 years being the last in a world that hates me." Taiga said, blinking to shed more silent tears.

"I know, Child. Do you know his wish?" She asked, stepping forward and smoothly kneeling down in front of him to rest a gentle knuckle against his tear soaked chin.

"He always said to be back the Drakes." Taiga said, finally pulling his eyes away to look down at Daiki's cold eyes.

"That's not what his heart wants. His heart wants you to live your full life, happy and free." She said, turning her own soft gaze to look at the darker male cradled in his arms.

"I can't do that without him." Taiga said, looking back up into her golden eyes.

The Goddess Amalphia merely smiled wider as she stood, taking a graceful step back as she raised her arms in front of her with her palms up. She held his crimson gaze as two balls of fire appeared in her palms, hovering above them, but they weren't normal, glowing orange flames; One was crimson red while the other was midnight blue.

"What is it you wish, Taiga? Tell me so that I can hear it in your own words." She said.

He didn't know how to speak, how to utter what lived deep inside his heart. All he wanted was for Daiki to breath, to have his eyes return to life and being with him, live with him. That's all he wanted, but in that very moment, that singular moment in time, he knew what his heart was saying.

"I don't wanna be a Drake anymore. I don't wanna live my life alone and in fear. I wanna be Human and live my life with him... With Daiki... Even if it's only for a hundred years. I'd rather live a hundred years as a Human with him, to die as an old man, than live 100,000 without him." Taiga said, blinking more tears that screamed down his dirty and blood stained cheeks.

"Would you like to hear what his heart says?" She asked.

Taiga's brows lightly furrowed, "Says?"

Amalphia nodded, but as she opened her mouth to speak, it wasn't her voice that left her lips. It was Daiki's.

 _"P-Please... D-Don't take away the life he was born with. Let him live his full life whether it be with, or without me. I love him deeply, so deeply that my life doesn't matter anymore, but please, if all those legends are true, don't rob him of the life he was given when he was born."_

Taiga's bottom lip quivered as more tears feel, turning his eyes down to look at the man in his arms with breathless and parted lips. His chest was still, no breath came and went, but somehow, someway, he could hear the weak beat of his heart still trying in his chest.

"I cannot grant one, without breaking the other. Neither can stand alone, yet together, they thrive. My Harbingers have finally come to me after so long, that my heart is warmed like a fire's flames. As the Goddess of Life and Soul, I... Amalphia... shall grant both." She said as the different colored flames began to shift.

Taiga couldn't look away as the crimson and dark blue flames flashed and took on the shape of a heart, both beating and strong, but they were only half a heart a piece. They were separate, alone in each of her open palms, but by the soft smile still gracing her full lips, all he could do was watch.

"Apart, neither can work, but together, they are one. Half crimson, half blue, shall beat as one for your natural lifetime. Let love flourish, My Child, and no matter the eons that will pass you both by, continue to be my Harbingers and be a shining example that above all, time cannot destroy love."

As Amalphia slowly started to bring her open palms together, the two half hearts started to beat faster, pumping with their perfect rhythm and in perfect sync. The closer they got, the faster they went and once the two halves touched, Taiga was suddenly blinded by a white light so intense, he feared he would never see again.

However, the light instantly faded and as his eyes adjusted, he saw Amalphia's hands cupped in front of her and holding a single heart that steadily beat, but was both crimson and blue.

"As one, you shall love, and it is as one, you shall live and die... Return to the one you love, My Child."

Taiga's brows furrowed as he looked down, his breath catching in his throat as Daiki's dark blue eyes gazed up at him with gentle blinks. He drew in slow and easy breaths that were strong and void of any struggle and the blood that had been seeping from between his lips had stopped. He trailed the backs of his fingers down Daiki's cheeks to feel them warm, full of life and when he smiled up at him, Taiga finally started to breathe again.

"D-Daiki?" Taiga mouthed as a few tears dropped from his jaw to land on Daiki's cheek.

Daiki nodded, "Hi." He said, his voice exactly as it should be.

Taiga's heart dropped as he remembered the dagger, but when he looked to his hand that still grasped Daiki's as if it was there, the dagger was gone. Its blade was no longer plunged into Daiki's chest, and through the blood stained shirt, he saw that the fatal wounds were gone. His skin was perfect and as he studied Daiki more, he noticed all his wounds were gone.

"Y-You're healed." Taiga said lowly, releasing Daiki's warm hand to brush aside his shirt and get a better look at his chest.

"So are you." Daiki said, reaching his freed hand up to stroke Taiga's cheek.

Taiga gulped as he looked at his arms, expecting to see the claw wounds, but they too were gone. He touched his face to feel those were gone as well and the burn in his side no longer stung. His right thigh was completely healed from the self inflicted burn and the bite in his forearm was gone, leaving him perfect and with no more scars other than what he already had. They both had been returned to how they were and should be.

He was having a hard time thinking, but as Taiga whipped his head up to scream his eternal thanks to the Goddess, all that was there was cool shadow and firelight. She was nowhere to be seen and even the dagger and discarded sheath were gone. There was no evidence at all that the Goddess Amalphia had been there.

"She's gone." Taiga said, swallowing down his disbelief as he turned his gaze back to Daiki still in his arms.

"She did it, didn't she... Granted our wishes." Daiki said as he started to sit up, being sore, but managed with Taiga's help.

Taiga nodded, "I-I... I think I'm Human." He said as he rested his hand along Daiki's jaw.

Daiki licked his lips as he pressed a hand down onto Taiga's chest, over his heart, feeling the strong beat thump beneath his palm. It was strong, perfect, but if there was one thing he knew above all else, was that it was the heartbeat of a Human.

"You are." Daiki said, leaning his head closer to graze their foreheads together.

"You're alive, Daiki... I thought I lost you." Taiga said, holding his breath to help swallow down the returning lump in his throat as he nuzzled into Daiki's cheek.

"You never lost me... I heard what you said to her. I love you too... So much, Taiga. My life hasn't been complete until now. I've suffered for so long just trying to survive day to day, that I thought I would just fade away into the darkness, but then, you came into my life. You're my light... my heart and now, it only beats for you... because of you." Daiki said, tilting his head and grazing the end of his nose over Taiga's cheek.

At Daiki's words, Taiga broke, shaking and sobbing with so much joy, so much happiness that he was soon wrapped up in those strong arms he had grown to love so much. He sobbed into the crook of Daiki's neck, but he didn't care, couldn't make to care because everything he had lived through for 230 years had suddenly been worth it. All his suffering, all his despair and fear had lead him here to this point where he was loved and cherished. It had all bloomed into a beautiful flower out of nothing, but destruction, and as he pulled away, smiling wide at the man who showed him what it meant to live, to love, Taiga no longer feared fear itself.

He was loved.

* * *

The suns rays filtered into the window and grazed over his closed eyes, pulling him from his slumber that felt like he was adrift in the clouds. He was warm, comfortably so, laying on his stomach with his arms wrapped around a plush pillow with only a blanket covering up hips. He was smiling as he drew in a warm, sun kissed breath and as he slowly opened his eyes, Taiga drank in the sight before him.

He was laying in a large bed, naked and content, in a bedroom with two trunks and a line of hooks along the wall where several cloaks hung. Candles had burnt down on the small corner table with two chairs and a warm breeze drifted in from their slightly opened window.

He sat up and scrubbed his face of sleep, running a hand back over his two toned crimson hair to ruffle it free of bedhead that had set in during the night, but when he dropped his arms into his lap, he frowned as he realized he was alone.

The other half of the bed was empty, even cold, telling him that the other had been gone for quite some time, but why, he didn't know. He swung his long legs off the bed and stood, planting his feet down onto the fur pelt that covered the floor and stretched high, raising his arms over his head and lightly grimacing at just how stiff he felt. It was a welcomed soreness however, as the previous night he and his lover, a man whom had saved his life a year ago, were embraced in each other, relished in each others feel and taste and it had been that night, where Taiga had gotten to experience Daiki wrapped around him.

Smiling wide, Taiga went to his trunk and opened it, rifling through the assortment of clothes until he found a pair of pants he was in the mood for. He pulled them out and gave them a shake before slipping them on, tying the strings tight to keep them pinned to his hips. He plucked his tunic from the hook above the trunk and pulled it on, letting the collar hang open and low against his chest before finding his boots and lacing them up.

After getting dressed and splashing some cold water into his face from the basin, Taiga stepped out of their bedroom and into the main room of their small cottage on the outskirts of town, nestled against a small grassy hill that was topped with a single tree. It wasn't much, really all Daiki could afford, but with some help from Nat, a loan that was slowly being paid back from their earnings as a rider trainer and keeper in the King's archives, it was theirs.

He went to the small table below a window in the kitchen area that was still laden with last night's supper, picking up the wooden plates and emptied cups to dump the forgotten food into a pail that he would eventually give to the pair of pigs they kept out back. He washed them off in the trough outside before putting them onto a shelf and picking up a few discarded articles of clothing from the floor from when dinner had given way to more lustful actions. He gathered their soiled clothes to prepare to wash them, but when his crimson eyes caught sight of a small piece of parchment pinned to the table that he had missed, he set them down and went to it.

 _Taiga,_

 _First, I'm sorry I didn't wake you. I didn't have the heart to, but I had to get to the training arena early this morning. Captain wanted to set up some impromptu tests for the newest rider recruits and honestly, I needed to catch up on some training regiments. Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be back this afternoon._

 _Today's your day off right? Maybe we can go to Nat's for supper this evening and let someone else cook for a change. You work so hard at home that you deserve a night off every now and again. Nat's been dying to see us anyways._

 _Anyways, I love you and I'll be home soon. I hope your day goes well._

 _Love,_

 _Daiki_

Taiga couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he headed back to their bedroom, opening the drawer in his nightstand and slipping the letter inside to join all the others. Daiki didn't know, but he had kept every one of them no matter how long, or short they were. He loved that Daiki always took the time to write them before heading off, and usually, Taiga would wake to say goodbye himself, but every now and again, there were mornings like this. He didn't mind in all honesty and as he shut the drawer and resumed his day, his heart felt at ease.

The laundry hanging in the sun to dry, the horse fed, the pigs happily milling about and the chickens cooped up with their eggs gathered, Taiga sliced some fruit to enjoy while he sat in a chair on the front porch, enjoying the sun and repairing some of Daiki's clothes that had torn during work. He was so calm, so relaxed, that when the distant beats of a running horse perked his ears, it took him a second to realize it wasn't just in his head.

When it finally clicked, he looked up and squinted through the mid-afternoon sun to see a galloping silhouette with a rider astride its back. He instantly smiled as he set aside the pair of pants he was fixing before stuffing a slice of fruit into his mouth, standing from his chair and knowing full well whom galloped towards him. That silhouette was unmistakable, to him at least, and as it drew close enough to shed light, Taiga's smile reached his eyes.

"Welcome home." Taiga said, walking up to the slowing horse and grasping the reins to hold the steed as Daiki swung his leg around and slid off.

Beaming wide, Daiki grasped the nape of Taiga's neck and brought him in close, pressing their lips together for a long, yet motionless kiss. He had lost count how many times they had kissed in the year since everything happened, but he knew it had to be an astronomical number. No matter how many times they had stood like this, Taiga always smiled.

"I'm sorry I didn't wake you this morning." Daiki said quietly, breaking their kiss to rest his forehead against Taiga's.

"It's okay. Work called. Did everything go alright today?" Taiga asked, brushing his hand back over Daiki's cheek to lace his fingers into his blue hair.

"For the most part. Had a couple recruits nearly get squished, but no one died." Daiki said as he stood up and took the reins from Taiga's hand to walk the steed to their small paddock attached to the side of their cottage.

"Silver lining." Taiga said with a knowing smile.

"Exactly... Looks like I was right that today's your day off." Daiki said, slipping his fingers between Taiga's as they walked.

"You are. I like the idea of going to Nat's for supper. I have some fresh eggs I wanna give her." Taiga said as he tightly held Daiki's hand.

"Then we'll go here soon." Daiki smiled.

They kept the horse saddled and tied him to a post while they prepared their second horse before putting something on that was more presentable for their intended evening. Daiki cleaned up and put on a fresh shirt from the line while Taiga locked up the pigs and ensured the chickens were safely in their coop. It didn't take them long before they were ready, and with Taiga tying the woven basket of eggs to his horse, they mounted their steeds and rode towards town.

It was a slow ride so not to jar the delicate eggs, but they arrived just as the sun turned the sky gold. They smiled at each other as they steered their horses towards The Dragon's Fyre, coming to a halt and sliding off to tie them to the posts out front. The streets weren't wholly busy and as they stepped inside, it was quiet enough for Nat to come and greet them herself.

"Well, look what the wyvren dragged in." Nat smiled as she tossed her rag over her shoulder and stepped out from behind the bar.

"Hey, Nat. How you been?" Daiki said, returning the smile as he rested his hand on the small of Taiga's back.

"You know... Little here, little there. Just running the place." Nat said as she gave both of them a warm embrace and planted quick pecks to each of their cheeks.

"Here... These are for you." Taiga said as he handed her the basket.

"Look at you... Bringing a salty old gal a present. You're an angel, Sugar." Nat said, taking the offering from him before waving them to follow her inside.

All three wound their way through the tavern to an empty table in the corner, somewhat tucked away from the regular patrons while Nat's barmaids took control of the bar so she could sit for a bit. She handed the basket of eggs off to one before another brought three tankards of mead, setting them down on the table where each took one for themselves and happily took a drink.

"As good as always, Nat." Daiki said, drying his mouth on his sleeve, which only earned him a light backhand to his arm.

"I literally just washed that." Taiga deadpanned with a glare.

"What?" Daiki shrugged innocently.

"You two are such children." Nat chuckled, sitting across from the pair as she continued to smile at them.

"To you, yeah." Daiki smirked.

Taiga slapped the back of Daiki's head, "Be nice, Ahomine. She still has the deed to the cottage and I'm not living in the rider barracks." He growled.

"Oh!... That reminds me," he rummaged through his bag to pull out a small pouch, "Here... It's this month's payment for that loan." Daiki said as he dropped the small pouch into Nat's hand.

Nat smirked crookedly, "Wow... You paid that back fast."

Both sat up stick straight.

"Paid back?" Taiga arced a grow.

Nat nodded once, "Yeah... You're paid up." She said with a quick snap of her fingers.

A barmaid disappeared into the back, but quickly returned, holding a small roll of parchment that she brought over and set down on the table without a word. All Nat did was smile the whole time at the pair, leaning back in her chair and loosely crossing her arms. They were in shock, and she genuinely couldn't think of a better anniversary present than handing them the deed to their cottage. They had told her what happened, told her what Taiga was and what he was now and they knew that she would keep their secret until her dying day.

"Happy anniversary you two." Nat said quietly before she pushed herself up to return to her tavern.

"You won't stay and eat with us?" Taiga asked, reaching for the parchment to unfurl it and see with his own eyes.

"Perhaps another night. Tonight is yours." Nat smiled as she patted Taiga's shoulder.

All they could manage was smile at her before she headed off, leaving them alone at the small table to enjoy their evening together. They were still in shock as they shared a loving glance, smiling at each other before looking at the parchment in Taiga's hands. They had done it. They had worked hard for a year to earn enough to repay the loan, and it was finally theirs. It was their home, their cottage next to the tree on the hill and even though it had been a full year, their hearts still beat with so much love, that both had to bite back the lumps in their throats whenever one smiled at the other.

"We did it." Daiki whispered, resting his forehead against Taiga's as he gripped the side of his jaw.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... We did. Almost doesn't feel real."

"How's it feel?" Daiki asked, lifting his head to press a soft kiss to just beneath Taiga's left eye.

"Like a dream I never wanna wake up from." Taiga said as he nuzzled into the tender kiss.

"Then don't... Let's keep living like we have been." Daiki said quietly, stroking his thumb along Taiga's jaw.

Taiga pulled away from him just enough to focus on his deep blue eyes, how loving they were and how gentle they were whenever they were looking at him. It made his heart skip with happiness and he almost felt as if it was wrong that any one person could be this happy. Daiki's Captain had accepted the story that Daiki had told him, that 'Buddy' had just been too wild to tame, thus resulting in Daiki letting him go, and it was as such that the Captain had so easily accepted Daiki's request to retire from riding, in favor of teaching. There was still a danger to it, but Taiga trusted Daiki, trusted his ability and his knowledge, therefore he knew that every night, he would come home.

Smiling, Taiga leaned in close to kiss the man he loved with a slow kiss that was returned with just as much, their tongues briefly tasting each other for only a few moments since they were in public and both knew they had a pension for letting things get too heated. Neither could get enough of the other, but too soon, Daiki broke their kiss and stared into his eyes.

"I got you something." Daiki said, pulling away from Taiga to reach into his bag once more.

"What?... I thought we agreed not to. I didn't get you anything." Taiga said, feeling his cheeks begin to heat up with a blush.

"I know, but in the end, I'm a weak man and couldn't stomach the thought of not doing it our first year." Daiki said with a crooked smirk as he pulled a small velvet baggy from his bag that was tied closed with a golden string.

Taiga's heart sputtered in his chest, "What's this?" He asked as Daiki set it down into his palm.

"Open it." Daiki said, still smiling at him.

Taiga softly bit his lip before gathering up the courage to slip the string free, opening the small bag and turning it upside down to shake its contents out into his palm, but where he was expecting many things, only a single thing fell out.

A golden ring.

"I would've gotten it sooner, but it took awhile to save up with paying off the loan." Daiki said, rubbing the back of his neck as his own cheeks started to heat up with a blush.

"W-What about you?" Taiga asked, needing to force himself to breathe evenly as Daiki took his left hand and slipped the golden band onto his ring finger.

"Taken care of." Daiki said with a smile before pulling his own from his pocket and putting it on, revealing it to be an identical band.

Taiga stared at the plain gold band on his finger, cupping a hand over his mouth as the back of his eyes stung with joy and happiness. He didn't think his heart could produce any more love than it already had for him, but in that very moment, it did, ballooning up so big, so plump and full with more love that when Daiki cupped his chin to make him look into his deep blue eyes, Taiga didn't care that a tear fell free.

"I love you... I'll buy you one every year until my dying breath." Daiki said, swiping away the loose tear with his thumb.

Taiga airily laughed, "What am I gonna do with 100,000 rings?" He whispered as he grasped Daiki's other hand.

Daiki shrugged, "Whatever you want."

"How am I supposed to top this?" Taiga asked, his eyes scanning Daiki's face as he smiled a bit bigger.

"Pay for supper?"

Taiga immediately started to laugh as their foreheads touched again and their smiles were so wide, so broad that they reached passed their eyes to actually move their ears.

"That's how it's gonna be huh?" Taiga continued to laugh.

"Hey... I just paid off our loan... Happy anniversary, Taiga." Daiki said as his smile softened into one of mirth.

"Happy anniversary, Daiki. Here's to many more." Taiga said, sitting up and grasping his drink.

Daiki did the same before they clanked them together and both taking a long drink and when a barmaid brought them their meals, the plates nearly went forgotten as they just stared at each other. A year ago, neither had thought they would be where they sat, as both had thought their lives were over, cast into shadow so dark that even darkness would get lost. For Daiki, he had thought he was fighting for his right to be a rider, when in fact he was fighting for his heart, but for Taiga, it was simply to see another day.

A year ago, both had been alone, but today, neither were, as their hears beat as one.


	14. Chapter 14

**Epilogue**

 _Present Day_

The city was a bustling, glowing beacon of prosperity, filled with history and structures that inspired and some even sparked a pang of fear depending on whom set their eyes upon them. It was a wonderment, almost a dream, but for a single structure, renowned for being the premiere firm of history and historical artifacts, the AoKaga Tower was the one that garnished the most talk.

It had been known to be a firm that regarded history as something special, run by those whom loved history, but for a select few, a small number, they knew the true faces behind the figureheads and one such girl, a young high school student, had been granted that wish the year prior and now sat in the large office.

The large, penthouse office in the heart of Tokyo was dark, only really lit by a single table lamp and a crackling fire in the granite fireplace. The orange light flickered and danced over the white walls that were decorated with priceless paintings and busts of famous historians and physicists. It was a beautiful office, but for Trinity, a third year high school student whom was in love with history, it was an office that was lost as she gazed with amazement at the man speaking.

She sat curled into the plush leather couch, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea in her hand, but it had long since cooled as she listened to the tale. She was in awe, complete wonderment and when the man had finished talking, she finally realized that she had been quiet for what seemed like eons.

"What a beautiful story, Mr. Aomine. It's such an inspiration for my university entrance dissertation." Trinity said, her large blue eyes wide with awe that hadn't eased the entire time.

"Good... I'm glad. I'll admit, it's not often someone your age wants to research little known goddesses such as Amalphia, but it's a breath of fresh air from our usual clientele." Daiki said, drawing in a deep breath as he set his tea down on the coffee table.

"I'm really glad you agreed to tell me. I'm sad Mr. Kagami isn't here to share his knowledge too. I hope his trip is going well." Trinity said as she uncurled herself and scrubbed her face.

"Last I heard, it is. One of our more... aggressive clients is insisting we research and uncover the location of the Library of Alexandria and he's refusing to accept that perhaps sometimes, history should stay buried." Daiki said as he stood and stretched, rolling his shoulders back as he picked up his business suit jacket from the back of the couch to put it back on.

Trinity's thin brows furrowed, "But the library burned."

"You're partially correct. The building itself and its contents were burned, but the lower levels are believed to have been protected from the fire from some unknown force. It's those lower levels he wishes us to find." Daiki said as he slipped his hands into his pockets.

"Oh... I'm sorry for asking, but are you?" Trinity asked with hope filling her eyes.

Daiki briefly smiled as he glanced down at his shoes for a moment before looking back at her, unable to stop himself denying the young girl with the endearing eyes. It had been a long time since they had seen someone love history as much as her, but he couldn't break his client's trust.

"History is no fun, Trinity, if there are no secrets left to uncover." He said as the large doors to the cavernous office opened and drew there attention.

They just watched as someone stepped in and closed the door, but it only took Daiki a second to know who it was. He glanced at his watch before stepping out from in front of the couch and making his way over and without a care, and knowing Trinity didn't either, wrapped his arms around Taiga before giving him a quick kiss to welcome him home.

"You're early." Daiki said as he took Taiga's suitcase from him.

Taiga nodded, "Kise was able to get an earlier departure time from Paris, so we were wheels up around 1pm their time." He said, resting his hand on the small of Daiki's back.

"I'm glad to hear it. It means we can go out for dinner tonight, instead of tomorrow." Daiki said as Trinity waved.

"Welcome home, Mr. Kagami!" She beamed at them.

"Ah... Came to hear tales of woe and legends of love, I assume?" Taiga asked as he started for the couches where she still stood.

Trinity nodded, "Mmhmm!... I'm graduating soon and wanted to get a head start on my dissertation. Mr. Aomine just finished telling me the legends of Amalphia." She clasped her hands behind her back and beamed wide.

"Did he now?... Without me? I'm hurt." Taiga feigned as he pressed a hand into his chest.

Daiki shrugged innocently, "No you aren't... Plus, you were too busy with dealing with our... issue."

"Yes... We'll talk later about that, but not tonight. It's our anniversary." Taiga whispered.

"Oh!... Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I'll take my leave! I'm so sorry to overstay my welcome!" Trinity squealed as she gathered her school bag and coat from the corner of the couch on the floor.

"Nonsense, Trinity. You were invited up, but thank you... If you have anymore questions, feel free to contact Selara and she'll let us know. Good luck on your dissertation." Daiki said as he gave her a quick handshake.

"Happy anniversary!" Trinity yelped with a huge smile as she trotted out of the office.

As the door closed behind her, Daiki and Taiga just watched, lightly smiling as they leaned into each others side. How times had changed since all those years ago, what seemed like forever to them, but it was fresh in their mind just like the first day they had met. They had watched the world change, watched it burn with war, grow with peace, shift from the simple life they lived in the cottage to where they were now. Daiki Aomine and Taiga Kagami had made a name for themselves as the world's premiere historians, but no one knew what they looked like, as throughout the centuries, they had used figureheads to serve as the face of their corporation; A company whose sole purpose was to find history and priceless artifacts for those whom could afford it.

With their penthouse office quiet, Daiki finally set Taiga's suitcase down on the couch and rubbed his hand up his back, earning his loving gaze and one he couldn't get enough of; Even after 1500 years.

"I'm glad you made it home." Daiki said softly as he brushed Taiga's hair away from his eyes.

"So am I... Erin and I were nearly at our limit with dealing with the Curator." Taiga groaned as he rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Is he being that persistent?" Daiki asked as he brushed his thumb along Taiga's jaw.

Taiga nodded, "Yeah... He's refusing to take no for an answer, even after Erin gave him back our commission fee."

Daiki frowned, "Wonderful... There's always one every generation."

"Yeah... We'll handle it. How'd things go with Trinity?" Taiga asked as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and took it off before loosening his tie.

"Fine... I haven't seen a love for history like hers since Leonardo DaVinci." Daiki said, sighing heavily before sitting back down close to Taiga.

"Are you considering her as the next figurehead?" Taiga asked, throwing his arm over the back of the couch and throwing a leg over Daiki's lap.

Daiki nodded as he rested a hand down on Taiga's knee, "I am. I think she'd be a good fit."

"She'll probably feint when you tell her." Taiga smiled.

"Most likely, but I got her genealogy report back this morning. You won't believe it." Daiki returned the smile.

Taiga tilted his head as his brows furrowed, "How so?"

"She's Nat's descendant."

Taiga gasped, "Seriously?"

Daiki nodded, "Yeah... I was pretty amazed when I read that."

"I can't believe it... After all this time." Taiga said as his smile slowly died.

Daiki reached out and cupped Taiga's chin, holding his gaze for a few moments before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet box. It wiped Taiga's smile from his face as he took it from Daiki's hand and as he opened it, he could only stare with shaky eyes at the golden band inside with a modest diamond embedded in the band.

"Happy anniversary." Daiki smiled sweetly.

"Daiki... It's beautiful, but I certainly didn't need another ring." Taiga said as he slipped the ring from its box and put it onto his bare ring finger.

"I told you I'd buy you one every year until my dying day and I intend to keep it. I had that made from the first one I ever gave you." Daiki said as he clutched Taiga's left hand.

Taiga tried to gasp, but nothing came out as he gazed down at the perfect ring, how it fit so perfectly and was just the right weight. It wasn't the first time Daiki had gotten him a ring and in return, he would pay for dinner. It had been that way every year and they loved it. It always made their hearts bloom with love and even after 1500 years, they were still as in love as they were that day so long ago.

"I love it... Just like I love you." Taiga said before leaning forward to meet Daiki's lips.

The crackle of the flames was all that filled the penthouse office as they kissed, holding each other close and in each others arms, relishing in each others feel and taste. Their love was enduring the test of time, but recently, both had felt as if they were missing something. With a secret so huge that they needed to keep, it had kept them from seeking their new wish out, kept them from being able to do anything about it. Yes, young people like Trinity helped to fill that void, but in the end, it was still there and blaring.

"I heard from the adoption agency earlier today." Daiki said, breaking the silence and ignoring the ache in his heart when Taiga's eyes lit up.

"And?... Did they approve us?" Taiga asked, beginning to smile, but it died when Daiki shook his head.

"No... They denied us again with the same reason." Daiki said lowly, biting his bottom lip at the sight of Taiga's eyes glassing over.

"This is the fifth time, Daiki... Why is it wrong today, when back then it was fine?... Is that all people see now? Two men instead of just two people in love?" Taiga asked, forcing himself to take a breath to help battle against the light shake in his hands.

Daiki held his own as he grasped Taiga's hands and brought both of them to his chest, holding them in one while he brushed the back of his fingers back across Taiga's cheek. They were still dry and if he played his hand right, he could prevent the person he loved with all his heart from shedding another tear over the matter.

"We'll figure this out. If we have to keep waiting, then we will and we'll keep working at it until those terrible people break. I'll do anything and everything to give us a child, Taiga, but it might take time." Daiki said softly as he bowed his head to rest his forehead against his.

Taiga nodded, "Time is something we have." He said, blowing out a shaky breath as he wrapped his arms around Daiki's shoulders.

For what seemed like forever, they sat embraced in each other, just listening to the fire crackle away in its rightful place. Daiki slowly rubbed Taiga's back, up and down in a long, lazy and unbroken line. He softly kissed his ear and no matter how long they had to sit there like that, he wouldn't let go until Taiga wanted it where he would take him to dinner and lavish him in whatever he damn well wanted just to make him smile again. Taiga would smile again before the day was done.

As their embrace loosened, their foreheads pressed together once more and still in each others arms, a growing white light began to shimmer out of no where that drew their attention to watch it form into the shape of a woman. They knew this figure, knew this figure well, and when the light flashed to reveal the Goddess Amalphia, they were captivated just like they had been so long ago.

"It's been a long time." Taiga said as both stood from the couch, holding each others hands before the Goddess whom had granted their deepest wish.

"It has, My Harbingers, but I come to you this night, this day of anniversary, because I hear what your hearts wish." She said smoothly, her voice soft and coming at them from all directions.

Taiga's and Daiki's brows furrowed as they glanced at each other.

"My Harbingers, for so long, you have done nothing, but continue to love each other as if it was the first day and as the Goddess of Life and Soul... Of love, I am compelled to fulfill your every heart's wish." Amalphia said as she turned her palms up and held them together.

"Than you know we can't... We aren't physically able to." Daiki said, wrapping an arm around Taiga's back to hold him close to his side.

"I know, but despite lacking a vessel upon which a child can grow, I shall grant your wish with a different one."

Amalphia drew in a soft breath that she blew out from between soft lips, exhaling a long stream of swirling crimson and blue that danced and twirled into a shimmering ball hovering above her lithe hands. They were captivated by it, unable to look away as the ball formed and twisted, and when the crimson and blue erupted outwards, they gasped at what the Goddess held.

An egg.

"From this vessel, this chamber of life upon which one of you came forth, a child will be born... A child of my Harbingers that will grow, will live and will die as they do. Teach this child, raise this child and love this small being with the same love that you have let flourish for 1500 years."

As Amalphia leaned forward, delicately grasping the large egg the size of a basketball, Taiga reached out and took it from her, unable to breathe as he felt how warm it was in his arms. He cradled it to his chest as if it were a baby, softly running his fingers over the rough shell and when he felt the gentle flutter of something inside, his eyes instantly filled with tears.

"Boy, or girl?" Taiga asked as he stared into Daiki's moistened eyes as he too, stroked the egg.

"Even I don't know that. Whatever the Fates deem worthy, they will bestow."

All they could do was stare at each other, not even noticing as the Goddess vanished and returned them to the dark orange glow of the fire and lamp. They couldn't believe it, but in their hearts, they knew it was true as they sank down to sit on the couch and watch the egg, feel how the child inside would squirm. Their chests ached as they rested their hands on the egg, but when a large crack suddenly streaked down the shell, they froze and held their breath.

The crack spread, arcing and streaking through the shell in random courses. The egg was cracking and all they could do was watch with wide eyes and held breath as what rested inside pushed its way out.

A clear liquid spilled from the cracks, but neither cared where it went as pieces fell away and the more that did, the more their penthouse office was filled with tiny coos and squeaks of a newborn. Huge pieces of shell dropped and when the shell was split in two, cradled safely in Taiga's arms with Daiki pulling piece after piece, a cry pierced the silence.

Taiga cupped a hand over his mouth as tears began to freely fall, staring down at the crying baby in his arms. The child had Daiki's caramel skin, yet Taiga's crimson hair and their eyes glimmered a beautiful shade of red. This small child was _actually_ theirs, a melding of both of them as if they were conceived from a man and a woman, and as both quietly cried with joy, their foreheads rested against each other as they gazed down at the child in Taiga's arms, that void was no longer there.

They had a daughter and she was perfect with her beating heart of crimson and blue.


End file.
